In mid-November, Iowa State students woke to snow on the ground, piercing gusts of wintery wind and chilling temperatures; their choice transportation around campus on a day like this — CyRide.

“It is not so much about making our lives easier,” said CyRide Driver Kevin Gries. “It is about making other passengers’ lives easier.”

As riders board the bus, they are greeted by the smiling face of a CyRide driver, an efficient and safe type of transportation, as well as shelter from the unforgiving Iowa weather.

CyRide employs nearly 160 individuals, runs approximately 90 vehicles and serves thousands of people daily.

“[During the first years] CyRide grew more and more until expanded routes were necessary,” said Karen Jamison, assistant director of operations.

The amount of passengers CyRide serves has grown drastically over the last five years as enrollment has increased.

“Each person that gets on my bus is an individual,” said CyRide Driver Rosemary Stemler. “Many of them I have gotten to know over the years.”

Stemler, an Iowa State graduate, has worked at CyRide for twenty years. She said she finds joy in working with such a well-run system and can’t wait to get to work in the morning. The employees at CyRide vary in personality and interests.

“A lot of intelligent, interested and engaged people work [at CyRide],” Stemler said. “There is no room for personality conflicts.”

Ron Pool, a CyRide driver and In-Service Trainer, has worked at CyRide for the last 11 years, after working at Iowa State for 15 years.

“The culture of CyRide is really positive,” said Pool. “You get a big cross-section of students.”

CyRide logs over 1.2 million revenue miles yearly with a variety of routes around Ames. Training for new CyRide drivers begins with out-of-service training. Trainees must log 80 hours of classwork and time shadowing drivers before continuing to the next step of training.

The trainees then go on route with drivers to pick up passengers. The training system has several focuses for the new drivers.

The first focus is learning to drive the bus, the second is system technicalities and the third is focus. Perhaps the most difficult for new drivers to learn, is learning the radio codes.

“[The focuses] are building blocks,” Pool said. “Drivers have to commit [each step] to their memory.”

During their routes, drivers are under constant pressure in high-stress driving situations.

“You have to be totally focused on what you are doing [as a driver],” Pool said. “You know anything can happen, and you assume nothing. “

Drivers wish to urge students to be aware of their surroundings when they are crossing the street or wandering campus.

“The most important thing is to ‘look-up’ before you step off the curb.” Stemler said.

CyRide drivers work to keep roads safe and help the people of Ames get where they need to go. The support system behind the drivers is vast.

The CyRide system is maintained by dispatchers, shop workers, a receptionist, training staff, supervisors and administrative staff.

“We have some amazing people working here,” Jamison said. “They are safe, they take their job seriously and they enjoy what they do every day.”