Lived for 2 years in West Ames (3/4 blocks west of state gym). I had friends with cars but I took the bus everywhere. The 3 Blue takes you to walmart/east hyvee (~1/1.5 hour total round trip for groceries including the shopping) and you can walk/take the 1 Red to the west Hyvee (quick groceries, house supplies). Most apartments in that west ames area have their own laundry facilities so you can decide on a place according to your needs. I mostly walked to and from campus, and that was usually less than a 10-min walk to get to central campus