Ventra - Bugs, Feedback, and Questions

[garmon757]

Someone thought in the early 1980s that they could get rid of dollar bills, and while those thoughts still exist, it didn't happen.

As the linked article states, Congress mandates that the coins be minted, without any real reason.

The only real reason seems to be the one your originally noted--that vending machine operators, including whoever operates the Ventra vending machines, prefer to give change in dollar coins than 4 times as many quarters.

For that matter, have you seen a half dollar coin, lately?

This discussion may induce me to try to find my collection box some time this weekend.

I turned around, and there was the box on the top of the office cabinet behind me.

Here are pictures of two real silver dollars. I don't know what the differences in scanning and screen resolutions does, but each is 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

IMG_0001.jpgIMG_0002.jpg

Good point. The last time I had a half-dollar was about a couple of months ago. Kennedy was on it dating back from 1974 (the first year of them being minted) but for some odd reason, I'd lost it. Yes indeed, those are quite a piece of history that you have. I wonder if you can get a legitimate value for them unless you're going to still keep them?

[strictures]

1. I believe the government has around 760 million Susan B. Anthony coins in vaults. Approximately 900 million were minted. It's possible that a large percentage of those in storage were scrapped, but a cursory search didn't find those numbers. It was the coin operated machine business that forced these disasters on the government. At one point, even the CTA tried to get people to use them as they were the change from the old machines, not paper dollars.

The first SBA dollar I got was a mistake, it should have been a quarter, but didn't notice that for a few days, until I tried to put it in a quarter slot somewhere.

2. I rode two CTA & three PACE buses today. Almost everyone had to tap repeatedly to get the Ventra cards to register. The Pace buses still had the old Chicago Card readers, but there was a sticker on them saying they don't work anymore. The two CTA NF-40s from NP had theirs removed.

[strictures]

Good point. The last time I had a half-dollar was about a couple of months ago. Kennedy was on it dating back from 1974 (the first year of them being minted) but for some odd reason, I'd lost it. Yes indeed, those are quite a piece of history that you have. I wonder if you can get a legitimate value for them unless you're going to still keep them?

The first Kennedy halves were 1964 & were silver until 1971. I assume the 1974 date was a typo. I see the cupro-nickel ones occasionally.

[Busjack]

Good point. The last time I had a half-dollar was about a couple of months ago. Kennedy was on it dating back from 1974 (the first year of them being minted) but for some odd reason, I'd lost it. Yes indeed, those are quite a piece of history that you have. I wonder if you can get a legitimate value for them unless you're going to still keep them?

Since you made me look, the 1972 Eisenhower dollar isn't silver, either, and is worth about $3, unless it is silver clad. One the other hand, the other is a 1923, which is worth $30-50, although mine is pretty worn.

BTW, the "gold dollars" sw mentioned are, according to the Mint, a "golden dollar" with maganese brass, and is not a gold coin that someone puts into a Salvation Army kettle. Hence, they are worth $1, too.

[sw4400]

I, myself, have two "rare" coins... a quarter from the year 1943 which is full silver, not the silver-metal mix of the modern day quarter, and a Indian-head Nickel. Sadly, the quarter is probably worth more than the nickel, be it just face value or a bit more as the nickels' date of mint is rubbed off, so there's no real way of knowing it's mint year. They are worth something if the year is visible. I also got a rare $1.00 bill "Series 1957" that says on the bottom "One Dollar In Silver Payable To The Bearer On Demand".

[sw4400]

Someone thought in the early 1980s that they could get rid of dollar bills, and while those thoughts still exist, it didn't happen.

As the linked article states, Congress mandates that the coins be minted, without any real reason.

The only real reason seems to be the one your originally noted--that vending machine operators, including whoever operates the Ventra vending machines, prefer to give change in dollar coins than 4 times as many quarters.

For that matter, have you seen a half dollar coin, lately?

This discussion may induce me to try to find my collection box some time this weekend.

I have seen Half-Dollar coins on occasion at work. They are rare, but we get 1-2 every so often.

[jajuan]

I don't know what language this is in (or why you posted it twice), but the paper Ventra ticket is only (1) because the turnstiles do not accept cash, and (2) for CTA to get $3.00 out of a $2.25 fare, a denied fare increase that the CTA admitted by holding a hearing mandated by federal law when there is a fare increase.

You don't "own" a paper ticket except as a souvenir. The only way to have an account is to register a plastic card.

CTA keeps everything, and pays Cubic a $450 million fee over 12 years to operate the system. There is no business entity known as Ventra; it is a brand name similar to Nabisco.

Actually Busjack, I'm pretty sure Nabisco is a distinct business entity and company. It's a subsidiary of Mondelez international based here in Illinois (after Kraft split in 2012 and made the snack food business a separate entity under the above Mondelez name), but it's still an actual company. I think the analogy you wanted was Ventra is a brand like Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Triscuit or Ritz (all Nabisco brands) since none of those are actual individual business entities. The comparison you stated to our new friend is like saying Jewel is a brand of New Albertson's, LLC or Dominick's was a brand of Safeway.

[Busjack]

Actually Busjack, I'm pretty sure Nabisco is a distinct business entity and company. It's a subsidiary of Mondelez international based here in Illinois (after Kraft split in 2012 and made the snack food business a separate entity under the above Mondelez name), but it's still an actual company. I think the analogy you wanted was Ventra is a brand like Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Triscuit or Ritz (all Nabisco brands) since none of those are actual individual business entities. The comparison you stated to our new friend is like saying Jewel is a brand of New Albertson's, LLC or Dominick's was a brand of Safeway.

Depends what is actually a subsidiary. But their website says "Nabisco" is part of their brand family.

I used to work for a company that had all sorts of subsidiaries, but none of them corresponded to what their business units or brand names were. They also acquired and sold business units all the time.

[Ratjeev]

I'll try to bring this thread back on topic with a followup question to my previous post. I plan on visiting Chicago next month and will be ordering the Ventra card via the wesbite as Kevin recommended. Since O'Hare station is a one-off and charges $5, does that affect the 7-day cards or should I be ok. From the info I read online it seems the $5 fare applies only to PAYG and those using contactless bank cards is that correct? TIA

[MarioM]

I'll try to bring this thread back on topic with a followup question to my previous post. I plan on visiting Chicago next month and will be ordering the Ventra card via the wesbite as Kevin recommended. Since O'Hare station is a one-off and charges $5, does that affect the 7-day cards or should I be ok. From the info I read online it seems the $5 fare applies only to PAYG and those using contactless bank cards is that correct? TIA

You can use a 1-day, 3-day, 7-day, or 30-day pass at no extra charge to enter at O'Hare.

There is also no extra charge for reduced fare riders (senior citizens, handicapped. children, military).

There is no extra charge for people using a valid transfer (the usual 25 cents for a first transfer applies).

So if you use a 7-day pass, that will be OK.

The $5 fare applies to anyone paying single ride full-fare. This includes payments from Transit Value (cash) stored on Ventra Cards and to contactless credit cards.

I think you may not understand what PAYG refers to. It refers to a fare paid with a personal contaclless credit card that has no Ventra Account associated with it (or does not have sufficient funds in the associated Ventra Account). You can associate a Ventra Account with a personal credit card at a Ventra Vending Machine. The PAYG fare at O'Hare is $5.

How to associate a Ventra Account with a personal credit card:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-elixixB0

[jajuan]

Depends what is actually a subsidiary. But their website says "Nabisco" is part of their brand family.

I used to work for a company that had all sorts of subsidiaries, but none of them corresponded to what their business units or brand names were. They also acquired and sold business units all the time.

Sounds more to me like Mondelez muddled the definition of what's a brand in that when you're at a grocery store you're not buying a package of cookies or crackers that's solely Nabisco brand crackers or cookies. You're buying Chips Ahoy brand cookies by Nabisco, Ritz brand crackers by Nabisco, Wheat Thins brand crackers by Nabisco, etc. All of them manufactured in the Nabisco plant on West 77th Street. I don't think I've heard of a Chips Ahoy or Ritz plant. Bringing the analogy to transit, you got NOVABus, a subsidiary of Prevost, a subsidiary of VolvoBus, a subsidiary of Volvo Corporation (yeah quite convoluted ), still making and selling the LFS Smartbus, LFS Smartbus Articulated, LFX, LFX Artic, LFS HEV hybrid, LFS HEV hybrid artic, and LFS CNG, out of which CTA is currently buying LFS Smartbus models to start replacing previous LFS models on the roster. And NABI*, a subsidiary of New Flyer, is currently still making and selling its own line of model brands. So Nabisco with its own plant here in Chicago and headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey sounds like a distinct business entity to me.

*New Flyer last month announced that after the existing NABI orders are finished, all current NABI bus models would be discontinued and NABI would cease to exist as a distinct business entity. NABI's production facilities in Anniston at that point would exclusively produce only Excelsior bus models.

[garmon757]

I'm guessing a routine maintenance (@ 79th). Service provided by One Team Cubic Service.

[Busjack]

I'm guessing a routine maintenance (@ 79th). Service provided by One Team Cubic Service.

Now if they can only get to 69th.

I was expecting the inside of a Coke Freestyle machine, with all the little cartridges for different flavors. Sometimes, those don't work so well either, and then they have to reboot the touchscreen.

[jajuan]

One clarification I made on an earlier post I made. I had said that Belmont and Howard I remembered seeing three machines. I wanted to make clear I was speaking of machines at the main station entrances only. Belmont, for example, has two additional machines at the auxiliary entrance/exit across the street IIRC. So that would actually bring the vending machine total at Belmont to five. Plus I noticed recently that the Davis Purple Line station has three machines. Then again I'm not surprised since that station is also a major transfer station in a way, considering that location is downtown Evanston and you can transfer to the Davis Metra station on the UP-North Metra line as well as it being a transfer point to 3 CTA and 3 Pace bus routes.

[garmon757]

Now if they can only get to 69th.

I was expecting the inside of a Coke Freestyle machine, with all the little cartridges for different flavors. Sometimes, those don't work so well either, and then they have to reboot the touchscreen.

Damn Gotta love that machine though!

[strictures]

Damn Gotta love that machine though!

The Coke Freestyle machine is great, up to a point.

If the restaurant is crowded, & they only have one machine, long waits.

Lots of people still can't figure it out.

The machine needs a Coke, Diet Coke & water dispenser on the side for those heavily used drinks.

That would speed things up.

[Mi604]

I have a few questions about Ventra related to a recent incident I had. I haven't had any luck getting answers from Ventra or the CTA, but perhaps someone here can help.

At the end of June, my Ventra card completely died, when I tapped it, there was no response at all from the farebox or turnstile. I was able to get a new card for free from a retailer, and assumed I would be able to go online to transfer my balance from my old card to the new one, after I registered it of course.

As it turns out, this isn't possible. One reason Ventra is supposed to exist is because it's an amazing new technology, and yet we can't transfer funds between cards online? Can someone explain this?

I callled Ventra, and you can't even transfer a balance over the phone, you need to actually visit the Ventra office. Why?

It wasn't worth the trouble to do that, so I reported a defective card online, and they sent out a new one with my balance transferred. However, there was a five dollar fee for the new card. Why am I paying to replace a defective card?

Also, why do these cards cost $5 at all. They can't possibly cost that much to produce. Assuming they do cost a lot less to make, where is the extra money that we're paying for the cards going?

[andrethebusman]

I have a few questions about Ventra related to a recent incident I had. I haven't had any luck getting answers from Ventra or the CTA, but perhaps someone here can help.

At the end of June, my Ventra card completely died, when I tapped it, there was no response at all from the farebox or turnstile. I was able to get a new card for free from a retailer, and assumed I would be able to go online to transfer my balance from my old card to the new one, after I registered it of course.

As it turns out, this isn't possible. One reason Ventra is supposed to exist is because it's an amazing new technology, and yet we can't transfer funds between cards online? Can someone explain this?

I callled Ventra, and you can't even transfer a balance over the phone, you need to actually visit the Ventra office. Why?

It wasn't worth the trouble to do that, so I reported a defective card online, and they sent out a new one with my balance transferred. However, there was a five dollar fee for the new card. Why am I paying to replace a defective card?

Also, why do these cards cost $5 at all. They can't possibly cost that much to produce. Assuming they do cost a lot less to make, where is the extra money that we're paying for the cards going?

Cubic is making a lot of money on this whole deal. The $5 is going directly into their pockets as an "administrative fee", as is the 50 cents "surcharge" on a trip ticket (a hidden fare increase if there ever was one). But compared to the speed camera scandal that is just starting to blow up, this is pretty above board and open. You pay more, and the CTA is perfectly happy to let you as it saves them a huge amount to contract the whole revenue collection business out. Remember, CTA no longer has anything to do with fare collection on the L, that's all Ventra employees. On the bus side, CTA only collects the cash fares, and the rumor is Cubic/Ventra will take that over within a few months. too, so that CTA just sits back and gets a check from Cubic every month.

One has to wonder, though. CTA claims bus riding is down almost 10% from last year. Sure don't see it. I wonder if Cubic is giving CTA a "fair lop", in other words, is Cubic really telling CTA how many fares are really being paid?

[Busjack]

Cubic is making a lot of money on this whole deal. The $5 is going directly into their pockets as an "administrative fee", as is the 50 cents "surcharge" on a trip ticket (a hidden fare increase if there ever was one). ...

As I discussed above, there isn't any indication that Cubic is getting anything other than the $450 million, plus some out of Pace for additional equipment. More than likely, CTA is keeping the money.

Also, it wasn't a hidden fare increase, because CTA held a public hearing on it, as mandated by federal law when there is a fare increase.

The only hidden fare increase, if one can call it a fare increase, was treating bank cards as cash fares. However, since it is has been reported that Chase is doing away with Blink cards in favor of the European style chips, that fraud will soon be moot.

[Railwaymodeler]

I used my disability free ride Ventra card for the first time on a bus last week. It should be activated, and should all be set up, yet when I tapped it against the machine, nothing at all happened. As in no response whatsoever from the reader. Even the driver had no idea why it did absolutely nothing, especially because no one else that day had problems. He let me ride anyway, since it IS a free ride pass. Before I deal with the "Customer (Lack of) Support", I figure I'd ask here and see if anyone has any guesses what the problem is?

[BusHunter]

I used my disability free ride Ventra card for the first time on a bus last week. It should be activated, and should all be set up, yet when I tapped it against the machine, nothing at all happened. As in no response whatsoever from the reader. Even the driver had no idea why it did absolutely nothing, especially because no one else that day had problems. He let me ride anyway, since it IS a free ride pass. Before I deal with the "Customer (Lack of) Support", I figure I'd ask here and see if anyone has any guesses what the problem is?

maybe you have to register it. I came across this mexican guy tonight who put his money in the machine and walked off. His money popped back out. At least I got to tell him his money popped out before he left or he would have been wondering wth on the bus.

[Busjack]

maybe you have to register it. I came across this mexican guy tonight who put his money in the machine and walked off. His money popped back out. At least I got to tell him his money popped out before he left or he would have been wondering wth on the bus.

The RTA ones should have been registered already. And there is no need to register it to put a fare on it, as RailwayModeler indicated. If he called the activation number, it should have worked.

[Railwaymodeler]

I did call the number a while back. Where it gets interesting, is that the Ventra free ride card I have was set to expire June 30. After a couple calls to find out where my new one was, I was told that the card I had was going to be good through the end of September now. Sounds like a delay in getting new cards out. I used my old magnet stripe card until June 30 on the buses (Though it was faded, worn, and chipped in the corner, it always worked on the buses) and kept the newer cleaner Ventra card in my wallet to show Metra trainmen. The picture on the mag stripe card was so worn the trainmen could not verify it was my card. I actually activated the Ventra card right before June 30, I think a day or two before.

I have very little tolerance for the talking heads at most customer support centers and avoid them if at all possible.

[ctrabs74]

Finally got some good use out of my Ventra card this weekend. My girlfriend came in from out of town and we spent the weekend in Chicago, staying at a hotel in Elk Grove Village (right on the 223). I didn't realize that with a Ventra card, the 25 cent transfer fee also applies for transferring between PACE and CTA services, at least according to what my account transaction log was saying. I found it convenient that I could use both my 7 day CTA/Pace pass and the remaining stored value card from my earlier trip to Chicago in June. As it turned out, using the stored value portion of my Ventra card for my girlfriend was more effective than buying a one-day CTA pass:

Sat.: 223 to Rosemont ($1.75), Blue to Grant (25 cents), 65 to Navy Pier (2nd transfer); 29 to State/Lake ($2.00), Red to Sox-35 (25 cents); Green to Clark/Lake ($2.25), Blue to Rosemont (gate-free transfer), 223 back to hotel (25 cents)

Sun.: Round trip between hotel and Rosemont via 223, free Rosemont Circulator ($3.50)

I'll be in Chicago all-day tomorrow before continuing my vacation trip to Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Indianapolis before returning home to Pittsburgh on Friday. I'll be posting my observations elsewhere in these forums.

[jajuan]

I did call the number a while back. Where it gets interesting, is that the Ventra free ride card I have was set to expire June 30. After a couple calls to find out where my new one was, I was told that the card I had was going to be good through the end of September now. Sounds like a delay in getting new cards out. I used my old magnet stripe card until June 30 on the buses (Though it was faded, worn, and chipped in the corner, it always worked on the buses) and kept the newer cleaner Ventra card in my wallet to show Metra trainmen. The picture on the mag stripe card was so worn the trainmen could not verify it was my card. I actually activated the Ventra card right before June 30, I think a day or two before.

I have very little tolerance for the talking heads at most customer support centers and avoid them if at all possible.

Quick question. Did they tell you that your free ride Ventra card was set to expire June 30 when they mailed it out to you?

Finally got some good use out of my Ventra card this weekend. My girlfriend came in from out of town and we spent the weekend in Chicago, staying at a hotel in Elk Grove Village (right on the 223). I didn't realize that with a Ventra card, the 25 cent transfer fee also applies for transferring between PACE and CTA services..........

Yeah when Pace changed its extra transfer charge for regular fare routes from 10 cents to 25 cents like CTA's transfer charge is currently, it eliminated its prior separate "Transfer to CTA" charge which at the time fluctuated at different amounts over the years depending upon what would bring the total cost paid by a rider to match whatever the current CTA fare plus transfers happened to be at that given instant. I remember during the early days of CTA mag stripe fare media technology, which also happened to be at a time when CTA and Pace had a lot more fare cooperation than displayed today, that when Pace buses initially got mag stripe card readers to keep in line with CTA moving to new fare media that the card readers on Pace buses didn't differentiate between a Pace fare and a CTA fare and were deducting fares off the old transit cards at the CTA fare rate instead of the Pace rate. So because it never really mattered if you boarded a Pace bus or another CTA vehicle for your extra two rides with your transfer from CTA while at that time a Pace transfer cost more if going from Pace to CTA, that particular early glitch had some riders with transit cards paying a total fare off their transit cards that was more than a CTA fare with transfers when using their transit cards on a Pace bus first and then boarding regular CTA services.