The Ames Transit Board voted unanimously to hire Sheri Kyras to be the next CyRide director.

Kyras, 48, will succeed Bob Bourne, who will retire at the end of July after 25 years of service. She will begin July 24.

Kyras has served as the assistant general manager with the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority since 1990 and has more than 20 years of experience in transit management, route analysis and planning, grant writing and transit operations.

“A lot of the projects that Ames is working on are things that I’ve done here at the MTA,” Kyras said. “It just seemed to be a really good fit.”

Stephanie Stall, vice chairwoman of the CyRide Board of Directors, feels confident of the decision to hire Kyras.

“We were fortunate to have hired an experienced new director from central Iowa who has a comprehensive understanding of state and federal transit issues,” she said.

Kyras will experience some challenges with her new position, one being the age of CyRide’s fleet.

“Typically, in the transit agency, you want to be at about an average of seven years,” Kyras said. “Ames’ system is about 14 years [old]. That is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

Another issue CyRide is facing is rising gas prices, which are leading to an increase in fares. CyRide currently uses soy diesel – a cleaner burning alternative fuel – to run the buses, which will be used during the summer as long as prices remain moderate.

Members of the transit board are looking forward to Kyras’ contribution.

“Sheri [Kyras] brings a wealth of knowledge to CyRide,” Stall said.

Kyras earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial administration from Iowa State and a master’s degree in public administration from Drake University.

“Ames is a great transit system,” Kyras said. “They are very professional and I’m very excited to be a part of the team.”

The transit director is responsible for the operations of CyRide, which began as a city department in 1976.

With the cooperation of the City of Ames, Iowa State and the Government of the Student Body, the bus system grew into the Ames Transit Agency in 1981.

According to the City of Ames Web site, in 1980 CyRide had 297,000 passengers. Since 1980, annual passenger numbers are up to 4.1 million – more than 13 times what it was 25 years ago.