OPERATIONS

California or Bust: Starting May 11, the Green route will move off of Toronto Street and Georgia Avenue and continue west on Ontario to California. Locates have been placed along Ontario. We are waiting until after the landscaping is completed to put a permanent signpost at the new turn around. (Barb and George)

Road Construction Ahead: As you are probably aware, the shortest distance between any two time-points during the summer is always under construction! Major road construction projects that impact CyRide operations are as follows

Be patient. Expect delays. Drive with caution through construction zones and notify the dispatcher if you need assistance. Happy Motoring! (Barb and George

Roadeo: The annual test of driver’s skill and agility in handling a large bus will take place on May 19 at the Iowa State Center parking lot. All drivers are invited to attend and demonstrate their prowess. The Roadeo is a fun way to test the abilities of our drivers in turning, backing, and maneuvering in tight quarters. The champion of CyRide’s Roadeo will compete at the State of Iowa Roadeo in Davenport on June 21-22. (George)

Do Not Be a Hero/Heroine: Superman and Wonder Woman may be made of steel but you are not. If you are feeling sick or extremely fatigued while driving on route, do not continue. Immediately notify the dispatcher and you will be relieved from driving. By being the hero/heroine and "gutting it out," you are putting yourself, your passengers, and the public in danger. (George)

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

Fall MLX: The GSB has agreed to fund an extension of MLX service in the fall. Service will start at its normal 10:30 pm time and the phones will be open until 2:30 am. (Bob

Budget Crunch: We budgeted revenues from the State of Iowa at $420,000 this year. We will probably receive around $340,000 to $350,000. We have eliminated a lot of administrative activities, such as global positioning, route wizard, subscriptions, training, travel, and other expenses that are not noticed by our passengers. We will be starting the next fiscal year (July 1) with an immediate $38,000 unexpected increase in health care premiums. We are looking at some options to reduce expenses even more, such as not filling an open dispatcher position, increasing fares, eliminating snow removal, reducing shelter cleaning to two times per year, reducing rust removal program on buses. Drivers can help reduce expenses by using extra caution in the garage where most of our collisions occur. (Bob

Changes to Internal Policies: Due to the recent theft of a portable radio and two CyRide coats, we have tightened our internal procedures to reduce the theft of CyRide property by employees. You may have notice several changes to address this issue. First, we moved the runsheets to the lobby to eliminate unnecessary foot traffic in George’s office. Second, Joanne will be locking the uniform closet. If you need something from there please see Joanne, a dispatcher, or myself. Finally, we are revamping our lost and found procedures. Only the driver who finds the lost and found article can put their name on it. Drivers will no longer be assigned to go through the lost and found. Any item over $20 in value will be turned over to the Story County Auditor’s Office after the two-week grace period. Any item of less than $20 in value will be made available to the driver with their name on the item or given to a charitable organization. (Barb

Units 959, 960, and 961: These units will see increased usage this summer. 959 will be used on a variety of fixed routes; 960 and 961 will be used on DAR and fixed routes as needed. The wheelchair stations in these units are slightly different than the stations in the rest of our fleet. All drivers who we plan on operating these units this summer will receive training on the new units. (Brent

Instructor Training: I will be conducting instructor training after the change to summer schedule. I have already talked to the eligible drivers and the sessions will be scheduled soon. (Brent

Summer Tours: Orientation Tours are upon us again. The first tours will be occurring on May 21. We will be conducting review training for experienced tour drivers and new training for new tour drivers. The ISU Orientation Tours are fun and are a great opportunity to show off what we do to all the new incoming students. (Brent

New Destination Signs: We will be ordering new destination signs for the campus circulator routes and for the new Brown route. The new Campus Circulator destination signs will start with a number in the 20’s. This should make it easier for passengers to remember all routes in the 20’s are free to everyone. The campus circulator symbol is being placed on each circulator destination sign. This will give more continuity between the signs, the schedule, and the timetable. We are also putting a "not in service" at the top of the new destination sign splice. This will make it a lot easier to put up "not in service" rather than going to the end or beginning of the list. My arms will be thankful for this improvement. (Barb

Iowa State Center Shelter Mirror: A larger convex mirror has replaced the smaller bus mirror that was installed last month. This mirror is located on the traffic island north of the bus shelter and provides a better field of vision, especially that of the traffic lane north of the shelter. When departing the shelter, go slow, cover your brake, and utilize the mirror to determine if traffic is approaching on your right side. (Terry

Unit 859: Unit 859 has been restored to its mid-1970’s grandeur. As the last of CyRide’s first buses, it was repainted, as it was when CyRide began service in 1976. This bus will continue to be used in maintenance activities and driver relief. (Terry)