The company in charge of CyRide, the Ames Transit Agency, has announced it may be forced to make an estimated $112,000 worth of service reductions to balance its budget for the 2005 fiscal year.

Stephanie Stall, director of facilities, safety and transportation for the Government of the Student Body, said there are nine options being considered for possible reductions. The routes listed on the CyRide Web site as being options for reductions are the Blue, Purple, Cardinal, Gold, Silver and the Moonlight Express. She said these routes were chosen as options because they have low ridership numbers, overlap with other routes or have the least impact on ISU students.

The largest proposed change would be the elimination of one of the Gold routes, which has an average 363 passengers per day and would save CyRide $81,000.

Stall said if student fees for CyRide use were increased by about $6, no service reductions would be needed. Instead, it was decided to increase student fees by $3.

She said the lowered enrollment at Iowa State also played a role in requiring the service reductions.

Funding for CyRide also comes from passenger fares, Ames property taxes and federal and state assistance.

The CyRide Web site lists what each reduction would entail, with the average number of passengers using that particular service per day, cost savings from implementing the changes and the alternatives available for passengers who use that service.

There is an e-mail address or phone number to use for making comments on the options. According to the CyRide Web site, if the service reductions are approved, they would become effective May 7.

“If there are enough student concerns, we’re looking at holding a forum,” Stall said.

She said she created a survey for GSB senators to look over the proposed service reduction options and to get feedback from their constituents.

She said she will be collecting the surveys this week and using them to help make her recommendation to the Ames Transit Agency sometime next month.

Robert Bourne, director of transportation for CyRide, said he has already gotten feedback about the proposed options and some suggestions that hadn’t been considered, like merging routes or operating some as seasonal routes. He also said that passengers on CyRide have been given handouts to help inform them of the proposed service reductions.

Bourne said CyRide typically employs about 70 ISU students. Since some student drivers will be graduating, there are no plans to eliminate any full-time CyRide employees.

He said that CyRide probably won’t hire as many new employees next year to make up for the service reductions.

“The success of CyRide over the years has been because of student involvement, and that’s why we’re trying to get as much student involvement now as we can,” Bourne said. “I’m confident that by involving the students, we’ll be able to make some good decisions.”

Jonathan Martinez, sophomore in civil engineering, said he’s upset to see that the Moonlight Express is one option to be cut by CyRide.

Martinez said he’s used the service in the past and was very happy with it.