Record #: R2013-984   
Type: Resolution Status: Failed to Pass
Intro date: 11/13/2013 Current Controlling Legislative Body: Committee on Transportation and Public Way
Final action: 5/20/2015
Title: Call for hearing(s) on service-related issues and projected timeline for completion of transition by Chicago Transit Authority to Ventra card system
Sponsors: Fioretti, Bob, Hairston, Leslie A., Sawyer, Roderick T., Foulkes, Toni, Munoz, Ricardo, Waguespack, Scott, Sposato, Nicholas, Arena, John
Topic: COMMITTEE/PUBLIC HEARINGS - Committee on Transportation and Public Way
Attachments: 1. R2013-984.pdf
Related files: R2015-407
RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Chicago Transit Authority is the nation's second largest public transportation.system, providing 1.6 million transit rides daily and 516 million transit rides annually, directly servicing two major international airports; and

WHEREAS, the Chicago Transit Authority operates on the public way, pursuant to a franchise granted in 1945 by the City Council of Chicago, and receives funds from the Chicago Real Property Transfer Tax; and

WHEREAS, the Chicago Transit Authority is the sole means of reliable transportation for thousands of Chicago metropolitan area residents and a crucial component in reducing carbon emissions and urban congestion; and

WHEREAS, payment options for ridership have regularly evolved and expanded to provide convenience to the customer and to stay current with technology: entering the digital age in 1997 by replacing tokens with a magnetic strip fare card, then adding the contactless Chicago Card system, which featured an automatic payment option when linked to a credit card. Ventra, in keeping with technological advances, is intended to replace a sixteen-year-old magnetic strip card and eleven-year-old Chicago Card payment system, and;

WHEREAS, the Chicago Transit Authority entered into a ten-year contract valued at $454 million with Cubic Transportation Systems to transition customers completely to the Ventra card system; and

WHEREAS, Ventra has been created to standardize payment options for the customers of the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace bus system, and for the convenience of both the transit system and passengers and improved and accessible customer service; and

WHEREAS, reported complaints about Ventra and its parent company, Cubic Transportations Systems, include, but are not limited to: customers experiencing prohibitively long wait times to receive or activate Ventra cards, customers charged multiple times for a single ride, inconveniently long wait times for customer service calls, customers charged f...

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