The Chainlink

Critics say CTA favors profits over poor with new system (Trib Article)

The CTA was accused of putting the profits of its corporate partners ahead of the needs of poor people during a hearing Monday night on a new fare-payment system set to debut this summer. Jon Hilkevitch reports about it here.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on March 13, 2013 at 1:56pm

I seethe with despair at my Chicago Card Plus. I get it loaded with pre-tax funds about once a year ($30 covers me for ALMOST a year usually).

But, unless I'm missing something, I can't add my own funds to the card, so when it runs out I have to re-order the transit funds which invariably takes several weeks to go through. Why can't I add funds to the damn thing myself?

I also hate the fact that the only way to check one's balance is to log into some web site that i use exactly once a year and therefore of course forget/lose the login credentials.

There may have been technological reasons for having two different cards, but those should have just been fixed. Foisting all these separate cards which have essentially the same function on riders was a huge disservice.


h' 1.0 said:

Are you referring to the current CTA system?

I've been happily using a Chicago Card Plus for maybe 6 years, and I don't have to take it out of my wallet or out of my pocket at train turnstyles.

James BlackHeron said:

The toll network is pretty terrible.

So far I've gotten by without hooking my credit card to it yet. I just buy the "gift" cards and add them manually to the transponder via the phone method (they don't let you do that online.)

If the card was anonymous and one could just add money at a pay station like the current swipe card I would call it a big improvement.   

I do not like taking my wallet out at the turnstiles and if I don't keep the card in my wallet I lose it.

As it is I am constantly misplacing the cards because I stuff them back into a random pocket and the next time i go to take the train I have to buy a new one.  Then I end up with multiple cards in my wallet and sometimes forget which card I used on the last trip and end up screwing myself out of transfer discounts because I use a different card at the next stop.


An NFC system would allow you to keep your card in your wallet and your wallet in your pocket as you brush your pocket against the reader. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 13, 2013 at 2:01pm

If the card was anonymous and one could just add money at a pay station like the current swipe card I would call it a big improvement.

With the current Chicago Card (not the Plus version), you can do that.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on March 13, 2013 at 2:20pm

I don't want to sound like some sort of decrepit urban institution cheerleader... but I have had less trouble getting into the CTA site to check balance or update a card that I do with most other sites.

Password recovery is quick and simple, and they don't keep changing things.  I have funds added from my credit card when my balance drops below a certain threshold. I'm sure you know about that option?

My experience with the Chicago Card plus has been overwhelmingly positive.  Why do I feel guilty about that?

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

I seethe with despair at my Chicago Card Plus. I get it loaded with pre-tax funds about once a year ($30 covers me for ALMOST a year usually).

But, unless I'm missing something, I can't add my own funds to the card, so when it runs out I have to re-order the transit funds which invariably takes several weeks to go through. Why can't I add funds to the damn thing myself?

I also hate the fact that the only way to check one's balance is to log into some web site that i use exactly once a year and therefore of course forget/lose the login credentials.

There may have been technological reasons for having two different cards, but those should have just been fixed. Foisting all these separate cards which have essentially the same function on riders was a huge disservice.


h' 1.0 said:

Are you referring to the current CTA system?

I've been happily using a Chicago Card Plus for maybe 6 years, and I don't have to take it out of my wallet or out of my pocket at train turnstyles.

James BlackHeron said:

The toll network is pretty terrible.

So far I've gotten by without hooking my credit card to it yet. I just buy the "gift" cards and add them manually to the transponder via the phone method (they don't let you do that online.)

If the card was anonymous and one could just add money at a pay station like the current swipe card I would call it a big improvement.   

I do not like taking my wallet out at the turnstiles and if I don't keep the card in my wallet I lose it.

As it is I am constantly misplacing the cards because I stuff them back into a random pocket and the next time i go to take the train I have to buy a new one.  Then I end up with multiple cards in my wallet and sometimes forget which card I used on the last trip and end up screwing myself out of transfer discounts because I use a different card at the next stop.


An NFC system would allow you to keep your card in your wallet and your wallet in your pocket as you brush your pocket against the reader. 

Permalink Reply by william on March 13, 2013 at 4:28pm

I also like the plain vanilla Chicago Card (not the auto-reloading Plus card). I bought mine at a Currency Exchange for five bucks and reload periodically it with cash at El stops. You can choose to register your card in case it gets lost (so the balance would carry over to the new card), but I never bothered so it's effectively anonymous for whatever that's worth. Works great, much better than the mag stripe disposable cards. I dont have to take it out of my wallet, either. I've never checked the balance or anything online -- just check it with the El stop machines. 

Too bad it will be obsolete next year. 

Maybe I'm missing something, but why would the Ventra system hurt poor people? 

Permalink Reply by william on March 13, 2013 at 7:57pm
thanks.
yeah, that is no good.
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 14, 2013 at 8:04am

I have no problems with my CTA Plus card.  Mine just expired, I called, they sent me a new one with the $7 balance I had on the old card in about 3 days.  

CTA board approves the new fare payment program (today's Trib artic...

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 14, 2013 at 8:40am

"In addition, Ventra card owners who do not use the card for 18 months will have $5 deducted from their accounts each month until all the money is depleted or they use the card at least once to restart the 18-month clock."

WTF?

Do these idiots sit around the table brainstorming about ideas to screw people and make their service worse?

This punitive BS is pretty much how eveything in this city works.   Chicago, the unfriendly/ugly city...

Any bigtime real estate operator will be able to look into the face of the Picasso and see the spirit that makes the city's rebuilding possible and profitable.

     

It has the look of the big corporate executive who comes face to face with the reality of how much water pollution his company is responsible for and then thinks of the profit and loss and of his salary.It is all there in that Picasso thing the I Will spirit. The I will get you before you will get me spirit.
     

Picasso has never been here, they say. You'd think he's been riding the L all his life.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on March 14, 2013 at 9:05am

Other than the seating arrangement the new cars (minus the third party-sourced defective bolsters) are where the CTA should have been 20 years ago.  It's insane to be using DC traction in this day and age.

Mike Zumwalt said:

When they order defective "new" red line cars. When they use un-wolmanized wood for the platforms, when they put gigantic flat screen tv's showing the time and looping advertisements.

Juan Primo said:

When has the CTA ever made a profit?

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 14, 2013 at 9:44am

The cars should have been designed with more room for bikes -or they should have at least one car in each train that has a bunch of room and bike-hangers and very few seats.

I'd call that a "defective" design.

But the new cars are OH SO SMOOTH and QUIET!

I mostly ride the Blue Line rattle-traps that sound like the wheel trucks are going to fall apart/off and derail at any moment.  KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK!    

And they are all lurchy-brakey every 2-3 seconds.  I'm not sure if all the Blue-line conductors are angry sociopaths who are slamming on the accelerator full to the floor one second and the brakes the next just to make the ride uncomfortable as possible or if the cars are such junk that they can not be possibly driven smoothly.  It's probably a combination of the two. 

I can't wait for new cars for the Blue Line.   I don't care where the seats are or what direction they are facing.  I'm just sick of riding inside a pinball machine. 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 14, 2013 at 11:19am

I practice brutal honesty.   I don't give a squat if you consider it to be bitching.

Ask me what else I think...

Michael B said:

I ride the blue line & find it rather nice most days. With transit tracker app it's a breeze. Bitch, bitch & more bitching.

 


Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on March 14, 2013 at 12:40pm

I certainly do think the older cars are not as smooth as the new ones. I would say it's akin to those crappy old Metra cars on the south shore line versus the new ones we see on most lines now. 

Michael B said:

I ride the blue line & find it rather nice most days. With transit tracker app it's a breeze. Bitch, bitch & more bitching.

 

James BlackHeron said:

The cars should have been designed with more room for bikes -or they should have at least one car in each train that has a bunch of room and bike-hangers and very few seats.

I'd call that a "defective" design.

But the new cars are OH SO SMOOTH and QUIET!

I mostly ride the Blue Line rattle-traps that sound like the wheel trucks are going to fall apart/off and derail at any moment.  KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK!    

And they are all lurchy-brakey every 2-3 seconds.  I'm not sure if all the Blue-line conductors are angry sociopaths who are slamming on the accelerator full to the floor one second and the brakes the next just to make the ride uncomfortable as possible or if the cars are such junk that they can not be possibly driven smoothly.  It's probably a combination of the two. 

I can't wait for new cars for the Blue Line.   I don't care where the seats are or what direction they are facing.  I'm just sick of riding inside a pinball machine. 

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on March 14, 2013 at 12:44pm

I was in one of the bad cars on the Blue line last night.

Re: the new cars-- they are much harder to place a bike in so it's not blocking seats or otherwise in the way, and while they may be smooth, the weird suspension makes for kind of a perilous ride; my feeling is that anyone with the slightest difficulty with balance or walking would be extremely likely to fall on the new cars just from the back and forth sway.

James BlackHeron said:

The cars should have been designed with more room for bikes -or they should have at least one car in each train that has a bunch of room and bike-hangers and very few seats.

I'd call that a "defective" design.

But the new cars are OH SO SMOOTH and QUIET!

I mostly ride the Blue Line rattle-traps that sound like the wheel trucks are going to fall apart/off and derail at any moment.  KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK-KLUNK!    

And they are all lurchy-brakey every 2-3 seconds.  I'm not sure if all the Blue-line conductors are angry sociopaths who are slamming on the accelerator full to the floor one second and the brakes the next just to make the ride uncomfortable as possible or if the cars are such junk that they can not be possibly driven smoothly.  It's probably a combination of the two. 

I can't wait for new cars for the Blue Line.   I don't care where the seats are or what direction they are facing.  I'm just sick of riding inside a pinball machine. 

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