Garage Addition: Our architect is busy finalizing the plans for the addition on the south side. 14 buses will be parked in the new addition and the tire room will be moved to the area west of the shop. Bids should be opened sometime in September. (Bob)

New Vehicles: New minivan (969) will be delivered in September. Four new Orion V buses are still scheduled for early summer delivery, 2005. (Bob)

Budget: Fuel prices are running about 17 cents per gallon over budget. We buy about 300,000 gallons per year. Please help by shutting your bus off on layovers when possible. (Bob)

OPERATIONS:

Does Anyone Require a Transfer? Drivers must communicate with each other to ensure that their passengers make connections when a transfer is required. When drivers arrive at a transfer point on time, there is no need to call transfers over the radio. If drivers are expected to arrive at a transfer point one or two minutes late, they must notify the driver of the connecting bus. If drivers expect to be late arriving at a transfer point and no transfers have been requested, they should use their PA system to ask passengers whether anyone needs a transfer. If no passengers need to transfer at this time, drivers should notify other drivers so they can leave on time. (George and Barb)

Kids Crossing in Front of the Bus: With school starting this month, we will have many new and unfamiliar "little riders." Please ensure that when children depart your bus that they do not cross in front of your vehicle (especially when transferring from one bus to another across a street). Children should cross behind the bus so they can see oncoming traffic. If necessary, have small children exit the bus through the front doors in order for you to better determine where they are. Please be careful! (George and Barb)

Gate Cards: The ISU Department of Public Safety will be activating the gates on Osborn Drive before the start of the fall semester. When you drive up to the gates, you will see a black square (about a foot square) mounted on a cement monolith. This black square is the card reader. You need only hold your vehicle’s card up to the reader to activate the gate. The card readers should be able to read your card once it is within 18-24 inches of the reader. During the week of August 16-20, each CyRide vehicle will be issued a gate card that will stay within that vehicle (cards will be attached to a lanyard that will be attached on or near the front door handle). Drivers should ensure that they have their vehicle’s gate card when starting or taking over a shift. Report lost cards immediately in order for a replacement to be obtained. (George)

New Faces: Seeing unfamiliar faces in the break-room lately? Since the end of the spring semester, CyRide has started 18 new drivers. When meeting these new drivers, give them a warm welcome! (George)

Fall Meetings: The annual fall meetings are being scheduled this month. We will be discussing our service to our customers, performance trends, and other items of interest. Bring your questions and comments. (George and Barb)

Saving Fuel: With fuel prices up we want to remind everyone to help us save fuel by shutting down your bus when you can. If you do not need to keep the bus running for AC and you have more than 3 minutes at your endpoint please remember to shut your bus down. (Karen)

Fall Changes: As usual, there are a few changes to the routes this fall:

New Student Days: The new student day orientation is an action-packed program designed as the official kick-off for incoming freshman at ISU. Iowa State is expecting over 2,500 participants. Student leaders, faculty, and staff create a program to help freshman make a successful transition to college life. During the orientation, they will discover the many resources available to help them succeed at ISU, one of them being CyRide.

One of the requirements of the orientation is to learn how to use CyRide. In addition to riding the fixed routes we will be showcasing CyRide by providing shuttles on Thursday and Saturday, August 19^th August 21^st, from approximately 5:15pm to 12:00am to several of the events. The shuttles will transport people between CY Stephens, Lied, Beyer Hall, Friley Hall, and the Towers. (Barb)

Quarterly Statistics: In the last quarter of 2003/2004 (April, May, June) we had 14 accidents with 12 of them being preventable. This compares to 19 and 27 accidents in the previous two quarters. Complaints are also down in the last quarter with 19 total complaints compared to 45 and 26 in the previous two quarters. Good work!!!

Our attendance is not doing as well unfortunately. We had 25 drivers report late for work in April, May and June compared to 20 in each of the two previous quarters.

Remember SAFETY FIRST to keep our accidents down, VALUE ADDED SERVICE to help avoid complaints, and know your schedule to avoid being late for work. (Karen)

New Instructors: In June we had another group of drivers go through Instructor Training. Congratulations to Joe, Johanna, Ron, Steve, Nick, Angela and Ian. (Brent and Jenny)

Thanks Again: We just want to thank our instructors again for helping train new drivers. It’s such an important job and everyone is doing great.

So Far, So Good: (Read this with your fingers crossed.) Currently it’s looking good for having the majority of our shifts covered for the fall. Once the trainees that start in August are out of training, we should be in really good shape. Our goal this summer was to hire enough drivers so that we’re almost "overbooked." Hopefully this will help alleviate the problem we have each August when drivers don’t return for the fall semester.

New Supervisor: After a year without a supervisor, the shop will now have some guidance. Rich Leners is our new Assistant Transit Director for Fleet and Facilities. He has 14 years experience in the trucking industry and is an ISU graduate. He will be meeting all the drivers during the August training sessions. Rich is the brother of Tom Leners, former CyRide driver. (Bob)

Old Buses: Some of our old buses have gone on to greater glory after they left CyRide. 904 and 905 are in rap video by Twista and 884 and 922 have been purchased by the Chicagoland Bus Museum for preservation. 882 was purchased by the City of Marshalltown and is used on school trippers there. 883 was purchased for $52 and sold by the purchaser for $2,125 on eBay. 931 was purchased at the IDOT auction in June for $1,900 and abandoned in Omaha a few weeks later. 916 has found a home in Scott Hassler’s garage. We expect to sell the remaining three 40 foot Gilligs this fall as we get the Madison buses in service. (Bob)

Used Buses: All five of the used PACE buses have been placed in service and we expect to have three or four of the Madison buses ready for fall schedule. The bodies are little rough, but Jon Buss and Don Tope have been cutting out the rusty spots and putting patches on the affected areas. We are painting the roofs, but not the entire body. These buses are expected to last five to seven years until we get money for replacement buses. (Bob)

New Mechanic Assistant: Chad Krull is the new mechanic assistant who started on July 5. He is busy learning all the details of scheduled preventive maintenance inspections on all of our buses. Chad is from northern Iowa and is the nephew of Paul Krull, former CyRide driver. (Bob)