A new Ames bus route proposed by four Iowa State students is one of nine new requests being considered by the CyRide board.

The Black Route would provide better service to ISU’s fraternities and sororities (see graphic), said Zach Morrison, one of the students who made the proposal.

“We decided that a route that would give greek students access would be a good idea,” said Morrison, senior in management information systems and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house.

The new buses also would be one more option for students in Friley and Helser Halls and the older halls of the Richardson Court Association.

Morrison said his group decided to design a completely new route because modifying the Orange Route inevitably would have inconvenienced students who already ride it.

The other members of the group are: Justin Kiewiet, senior in transportation and logistics; Mike Danilson, senior in exercise and sport science; and Alyssa Jensen, senior in apparel merchandising, design and production.

The four did in-depth research on CyRide’s history and surveyed students who would benefit from the new route, Morrison said. They presented their idea to the board at its meeting on Dec. 2.

“It’s a pretty thorough proposal,” said Warren Madden, ISU’s vice president for business and finance, who is a member of the board.

Creating the Black Route, as outlined at the meeting, would carry a price tag of $60,000 per year, and that cost is a possible obstacle, Madden said.

“There’s some question as to whether we can finance that in next year’s growth and revenue,” he said.

Tom Davenport, Cy-Ride’s administrative assistant, agreed.

“The city doesn’t see any value in [the Black Route] to them,” he said. “If the campus shuttle comes into effect, it’s going to have to be something with the students.”

But Morrison was optimistic, saying his group planned to propose its idea next semester to the Government of the Student Body Senate, the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council.

“The board was in favor of the whole thing, as long as we could get the initiative started to find the funding,” he said.

Before last week’s meeting, CyRide Director Bob Bourne ranked the students’ proposal seventh out of nine options. But by the end of the meeting, board members had moved the Black Route into the top five, Morrison said.

“We’re going to have to contact students personally so that we can get a feel for support and possibly having a considerable amount of student backing,” he said. “If we have the students’ support on this, I don’t see why this route couldn’t be implemented.”

The board will make a final decision on all the proposals at its meeting on Jan. 13. “Definitely not everything” will be approved, Davenport said, since available funds for expansion will total only about $50,000.

Student fees allocated by GSB provide 52.9 percent of CyRide’s outside revenue, Madden said. Under the 1998-99 fee schedule, each student pays $19.73 per semester — in all, approximately $1 million for the fall and spring semesters and the summer session.

Income from the university makes up 14.7 percent of CyRide’s outside revenue, with the other 32.4 percent coming from the City of Ames.

Madden said the other expansion proposals brought before the CyRide board at its December meeting were, in general order of priority to the board (the Black Route ranks in the top five):

• expanding the Yellow Route to Friday and Saturday nights. This change would address increased bus traffic due to the Movies 12 complex and other new retail businesses on South Duff Avenue. Estimated total cost: $12,306.

• adding eight additional service hours to the Gray Route ($57,361).

• beginning Yellow Route service on Sundays ($11,238).

• creating a bus route on South 16th Street between the Veterinary Medicine College and South Duff Avenue ($6,608).

• re-establishing flexible service on weeknights on the Brown and Yellow Routes to and from the ISU Research Park and the Kate Mitchell, South Duff Avenue and Wessex areas ($28,264).

The board dropped two proposals from consideration. The first would have added service to east Ames, aimed at new businesses such as the Barilla pasta plant ($52,134). The second was a proposal to expand service to the Des Moines International Airport ($277,662).