How Should CyRide Fill a $250,000 Budget Gap?

officials have come up with a number of possible solutions to make up for a $250,000 budget gap in the 2012 fiscal year.

Those options include internal savings, asking funding partners for more money, increasing fares and cutting services.

A public information meeting will be held at 6:30 tonight in 515 Clark Ave., to explain the possibilities. People will then be able to tell CyRide officials what should be done, said CyRide Transit Director Sheri Kyras.

CyRide needs the additional money because fuel prices increased more than anticipated.

During the last CyRide Board of Trustees' meeting, staff members said they might be able to save $80,000 internally by cutting helper buses, delaying ordering a car used to take drivers to and from buses on duty, saving maintenance costs due to new buses entering the fleet and by cutting money used to teach new riders about CyRide.

That would still leave a hole of $170,000.

One option is to ask the City of Ames, University, and the Government of the Student Body to cover the remaining gap. In one scenario, the City of Ames would pay $45,628, Iowa State University would pay $20,009 and the Government of the Student Body would pay $104,363.

Another option would be to increase fares.

Fares could be increased by 25 percent for non-student riders and 31 cents for students, but it would take more than six months to make up the deficit under scenarios offered by staff.

Almost 90 percent of riders are Iowa State students who pay to ride through student fees, which is where the Government of the Student Body share comes from.

According to charts in Board of Trustee's agenda packets, cash fares would be increased by about 25 cents to $1.25, but reduced fares would also be extended to people on Medicare. People on Medicaid already pay a reduced fare of 50 cents per ride. Staff also discussed selling reduced fare passes for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.

A third option would be to cut services.

CyRide staff examined cutting a number of services, including eliminating the pink route, cutting services on Labor Day, July 4 and Memorial Day, and cutting routes on Saturdays and Sundays.

Kyras said the route options, found here, were developed after asking people at a June public meeting which routes were least and most important.

CyRide's Board of Trustees will make its final decision in late September, but they want to know what residents think before moving forward.

SEE MORE ON PATCH