With productivity that exceeds many large city systems, CyRide (the transit provider for Ames, Iowa), provides essential transportation services for city residents as well as students, faculty, and staff at Iowa State University (ISU).
In 2016, CyRide started on a year-long study to improve system efficiency, ridership and client satisfaction.
CDG worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team to lead community engagement services for the system update. CDG organized and facilitated pop-up meetings, open houses, focus groups, and online engagement to gather additional community guidance. Key audiences included ISU students and staff (about 90% of all rides are from the ISU community) as well as the general population of the city. In addition, engagement with both the riding and non-riding public public was a key source of information and guidance for making improvements that would lead to increased ridership for the system.
The project was successfully completed in 2017 and is currently undergoing implementation.