CyRide has been facing budget concerns for the past several years and, with recent legislation, it has come closer to receiving much-needed federal funding.

Tom Davenport, administrative assistant for CyRide, said the price of diesel fuel has risen above $1.55 per gallon. These hiked prices, which the company had expected to pay, are causing fiscal problems.

“Diesel has not gone down yet; it’s still over $2 a gallon,” he said.

“We figure it’s going to cost us $140,000 more than we budgeted for. I don’t see it really coming back down much.”

An allocation to CyRide is part of the national transportation appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006, which was passed in the Senate on Oct. 20 and the House on Nov. 18. It has been sent on to President George W. Bush, who is expected to sign the bill.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, helped get the funding for CyRide added to the bill, which will provide $1 million to the company for capital improvements.

“It is just one of a multi-year commitment that Congressman Latham has been working for,” said James Carstensen, Latham’s communications director.

“This is something that Congressman Latham single-handedly secured for them. Over the years, he’s secured over $4.5 million.”

Davenport said the money will be used to build a garage for the CyRide facilities; he said the current facilities are inadequate.

“This garage was built in 1981 with a small addition in 1984. It was designed for 35 buses and we now have 70,” he said.

The money is in addition to a separate grant given to CyRide through the House’s “transit-intensive” cities program, which will substantially increase the amount of federal assistance CyRide receives, providing at least $1.4 million per year for four years, and up to $1.7 million by the fourth year.

Davenport said although CyRide doesn’t pay taxes on the fuel it buys, the $570,000 that it currently gets from the government isn’t enough for all operating costs.

“Our budget has been limited for many years. It’s always been a shoestring,” he said.

He also said the money would be used for operating costs and small capital items.

“It’s going to pay for fuel, that’s what its going to do this year,” he said. “After that, we’ve got one bus we’re going to buy. We’ve got some GAS equipment and some software for the office.”

Davenport also said there are six criteria considered for the funding, and CyRide qualified for four of them, including the number of passengers the company serves.

“We’re carrying a whole lot of people but we’ve never had the operating money to back it up,” he said. “What it does is it gives us a cushion so we don’t have to look for cutbacks for the next four years.”

Davenport said CyRide is not sure what all of the money will be used for.