CyRide could be undergoing some substantial changes.

The Ames Transit Feasibility Study outlines four recommendations that may improve the way CyRide operates and also lays out routes to expanding areas of the city while considering new-and-improved transportation vehicles.

When it comes to expansion, Transit Planner Shari Atwood said there are two main areas that have become of interest: the northwest part of Ames and the transit route near the proposed mall area, including Lincoln Way, Dayton Avenue and East 13th Street.

Atwood said that if the northwest portion of Ames continues to grow, changes will be needed to account for a higher ridership. She also said the proposed mall could add up to 700 additional riders per day.

While new route additions seem likely, one of the biggest changes may come in the form or articulated buses. Unlike the current buses, articulated buses will, in time, help save money due to their higher carrying capacity.

“Instead of seating 37 passengers like a normal CyRide bus, an articulated bus can seat up to 60 passengers,” Atwood said. “We would realize an operating savings because 70 percent of CyRide’s costs come in the operation of buses and paying the drivers. So, when you only have two drivers instead of three, you’re paying yourself back after a few years of operating the articulated buses.”

According to the study, four articulated buses would be needed, at a price of nearly $500,000 each. The $2 million worth of articulated buses would service Mortensen Road, but four normal buses, at a cost of $330,000 per bus, would also be added to help provide transportation to the proposed mall area.

Along with additions and expansions, Atwood said that representative bodies from CyRide, Ames Transportation, the city itself and Iowa State will need to collaborate to decide on the status of a study involving CyRide’s most popular route, the Orange Route.

Currently, the federal government has provided $160,000 of the necessary $200,000 to continue the study. Ames was chosen as one of 21 sites in the country to be studied and has the lowest population of any of the other cities chosen.

Atwood said the decision would allow Ames to implement traffic-signal technology and insert dedicated bus lanes.

Now the main questions facing CyRide are whether the study on the Orange Route should be conducted and where the additional $40,000 will come from.

“What we’re asking for right now is just for the public to make comment on whether we should spend the $40,000 to continue this study,” Atwood said. “It would be $40,000 funded in some manner, whether it’s through the Government of the Student Body, the university or through the city of Ames.”