Any Iowa State student will tell you how important CyRide is.

The bus can take you almost anywhere on campus and in Ames whenever you need it. We are extremely lucky to have such an efficient and sharp public transportation available to us.

And if you can believe it, it is getting even better.

Starting this summer and going into future semesters, CyRide is adding more routes, altering select old routes and changing certain times of their schedule. You can check out how this new system, CyRide 2.0, will affect you and your morning commute on the CyRide website.

This improvement adds routes and times where they are needed and simplifies many of the routes, allowing for students and community members to get exactly where they need to be when they need to be there.

Everyone should appreciate CyRide, especially when it is improving the service it provides. Public transportation is a service that is underappreciated, even though it provides a huge benefit to our community.

Public transportation, like buses and subways, keep more cars off the road, which helps lower congestion on the roads, save passengers money and reduces our environmental impact.

CyRide especially is working to reduce its carbon footprint.

There are currently 12 CyBrid buses in Ames; these hybrid buses save an estimated 23,000 gallons of fuel and 210,513 kilograms of CO2 each year. They also are 50 percent quieter, meaning less noise when you’re walking to class or work everyday. Environmental efforts like this will have enormous benefits down the road for not only the planet, but the school and city as well.

These services also provide people with access to transportation to work, which helps people hold jobs and keep more people employed. According to the American Public Transportation Association, for every $1 invested in public transportation, it generates approximately $4 in economic returns.  

Not only does a public transportation service like CyRide save people money and lessen our collective environmental impact, but it can actually help keep more people employed and adding to the economy.

Public transportation is incredibly underappreciated, but with CyRide 2.0, Iowa State students and the community of Ames should appreciate and be excited that CyRide is trying to improve the invaluable service it provides.