A feeder bus system for a suburban community commuter rail station is designed. The paper develops a design methodology utilizing cost–effectiveness methods. A demand model for feeder bus ridership is developed with input variables – location of rail users, income of users transit fare, level of transit service, and walk time to bus route. In applying the methodology to a study area which included three commuter rail stations it was found that all feeder bus systems would operate at a loss. Bus routes with loops in residential areas and direct service to the rail stations had the best ridership levels. The cost–effectiveness approach and the model developed are effective design methods.