For many years students and other members of the Ames community have relied on that big red bus to deliver them all over town.

Whether a person needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store or needed a safe ride home from a local bar, Cy-Ride was there, dedicating itself to community service.

In fact, 2.7 million people ride the buses annually, said Bob Bourne, Cy-Ride director.

Now the bus system has once again been rewarded for its efforts.

The Ames Transit Agency, Cy-Ride, has won a Silver Award from the American Public Transit Bus Safety Award Competition. The Silver Award is given every year for outstanding traffic and passenger safety.

According to the competition, Ames has one of the safest transit systems in the United States and Canada in 1997.

Bourne said that Cy-Ride was also honored with the Silver Award in 1995 and was a finalist for the award in 1991.

The Silver Award is an award given to the transit system with the best overall safety record. The award is given to one transit system in each of five groups, and Cy-Ride won among transit systems with 25-50 buses.

“This is a very big competition,” Bourne said. “There are about 70-80 transit systems that compete annually.”

The competition is judged by a bus system’s accident record. “This year we only had one accident. That amounted to only $46.00 worth of damage,” Bourne said.

Cy-Ride began its service to Ames in 1976 with only six buses running three routes. Now, it has grown to 43 buses that operate on seven different routes around the community. Although Bourne said that the number of people employed by Cy-Ride fluctuates throughout the seasons, about 92 employees are usually on the payroll.

“This is the perfect example of a team award. It took everyone’s dedication for us to win,” Borne said.