Guest ctafan630 Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 What is the easiest way to transfer a balance from the Chicago Card to the Ventra Card. Someone mentioned the CTA is holding "transfer events" but couldnt find this information on the CTA website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioM Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 What is the easiest way to transfer a balance from the Chicago Card to the Ventra Card. Someone mentioned the CTA is holding "transfer events" but couldnt find this information on the CTA website. This explains all about transferring Chicago Card and Transit Card balances to Ventra. http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?Month=&Year=&Category=2&ArticleId=3205 Note that Chicago Card Plus balances cannot be transferred at "transfer events." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owine Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 I took a couple of rides Saturday evening/night. Arrived home to discover that my negative balance had gone down further. It looks like my 30 day pass expired in the middle of my trips and I was not denied boarding, just put further into the negative. The problem here is that my pass was setup to auto reload (yes, I set it up after my pass transferred from CCP to Ventra). I manually loaded a new pass Sunday morning, but shouldn't have had to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 I took a couple of rides Saturday evening/night. Arrived home to discover that my negative balance had gone down further. It looks like my 30 day pass expired in the middle of my trips and I was not denied boarding, just put further into the negative. The problem here is that my pass was setup to auto reload (yes, I set it up after my pass transferred from CCP to Ventra). I manually loaded a new pass Sunday morning, but shouldn't have had to do that. So, I guess you now admit that anyone can be dinged by CTA's or Cubic's incompetence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owine Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 So, I guess you now admit that anyone can be dinged by CTA's or Cubic's incompetence. Yep, although again, I haven't seen any others report the same issue. This goes back to a Ventra drawback with a lack of account balance/pass expiration notices on the readers themselves. I did get a "Pass expiring soon" notice on the reader, but no more detail than that. I knew something was up when I didn't get a reload email since my pass expired sometime on the 12th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Yep, although again, I haven't seen any others report the same issue. This goes back to a Ventra drawback with a lack of account balance/pass expiration notices on the readers themselves. I did get a "Pass expiring soon" notice on the reader, but no more detail than that. I knew something was up when I didn't get a reload email since my pass expired sometime on the 12th. Autoreload not working came up on the CTA Tattler, and someone there said "The only annoying thing is that you have to go out of your way to find out what balance is left on it." I'm not going to say that everyone should be made to check their account on the web page before boarding a bus, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owine Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Autoreload not working came up on the CTA Tattler, and someone there said "The only annoying thing is that you have to go out of your way to find out what balance is left on it." I'm not going to say that everyone should be made to check their account on the web page before boarding a bus, though. Agree. The whole point of auto reload is set it and forget it. I still think the readers should display an hourglass while processing and display a transit value balance or pass expiration date. Seems simple enough to me and you hope that unlike the 5000 series cars, Ventra is designed to allow some on the fly fixes/improvements as time goes on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 This smells like an bungled I-T project. Nobody can write code that works right to start with. Did they so much as test this thing, or are they testing it "in production" so as to "make their date" (without a late penalty) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ctafan630 Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 This explains all about transferring Chicago Card and Transit Card balances to Ventra. http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?Month=&Year=&Category=2&ArticleId=3205 Note that Chicago Card Plus balances cannot be transferred at "transfer events." Thanks Mario. Why the heck does the CTA bury this information on their website. This information should be with the rest of the Ventra information. If the CC Plus balances can be automatically transfered , why the heck can't the CC balances be transfered. Isn't it the same technology? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks Mario. Why the heck does the CTA bury this information on their website. This information should be with the rest of the Ventra information. If the CC Plus balances can be automatically transfered , why the heck can't the CC balances be transfered. Isn't it the same technology? The first one is a valid point, in that it is not on a main Ventra page, but was on a Press Release that got submerged through the passage of time. On the latter, I'm sure it is with regard to all the b.s. about the various options on the CCP and how they were supposed to be transferred automatically. While the CCs could also be registered, apparently that was not a mandatory requirement, and the CC holders didn't have the account management tools that had to be transferred over for CCP users. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioM Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks Mario. Why the heck does the CTA bury this information on their website. This information should be with the rest of the Ventra information. If the CC Plus balances can be automatically transfered , why the heck can't the CC balances be transfered. Isn't it the same technology? Here is a pdf file with the transfer event calendar laid out in a more readable format: http://on.ventrachicago.com/Transfer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geneking7320 Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 It seems as though there is a longer interval between when the Ventra card pad is tapped and when the Go signal is flashed. I have noticed this on CTA buses and L stations as well as Pace buses. Does anyone know why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 It seems as though there is a longer interval between when the Ventra card pad is tapped and when the Go signal is flashed. I have noticed this on CTA buses and L stations as well as Pace buses. Does anyone know why? Maybe the radio data network or the computer that authorizes transactions is overwhelmed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owine Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 I've found the response time to be consistent with a regular contactless credit/debit card transaction, which is to say not immediate but not painfully slow. As previously stated, I wish there was some sort of processing graphic that comes up after a successful read but waiting for the Go/Stop result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 I've found the response time to be consistent with a regular contactless credit/debit card transaction, which is to say not immediate but not painfully slow. As previously stated, I wish there was some sort of processing graphic that comes up after a successful read but waiting for the Go/Stop result. I suppose it is one thing if you are at the checkout at a food store and have 200 items; another if the goal was to speed boarding on buses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Ok before we get too carried away with harping on a perception of speed not being there, let's remember they haven't worked out the bugs and glitches. For some that's more painfully apparent. So it's not too much of a stretch that in some cases boarding speed hasn't picked up. I've observed that when the system is working properly, tapping a Ventra card is relatively faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 It's pretty quick. I hold mine about 2-3 sec. against the reader so it picks it up and every time... "GO" appears. Those that only hold about .05 sec. get a "X STOP" very often. It's "Tap and go", but not "Wave and go". That's what a lot of people get confused by with this Ventra system. 2-3 Sec. is very quick time to board per customer. The magnetic stripe cards took about 4-5 sec., longer if there was an issue with reading them. People can be so impatient nowadays. I had a impatient customer a few nights back because their Credit Card wouldn't swipe and didn't like the delay while we had to use the embosser to use the card for the sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 It's pretty quick when it's working, but I think it's just as fast as the former, but with no moving parts CTA sure is happy they don't have to go and fix those. A sign of the times, everything is being controlled by software more and more and less mechanical in nature. That means less jobs. I was told that soon (they said 10/15, today) the CTA armored trucks will become Brink's armored trucks and there will be no more CTA armored trucks. I believe the Ventra machines are being delivered by Ford Express vans. The ventra machines do seem to sign out, I had one operator that signed it back in because it was not in use before I could use it. One also had a bunch of small print words on it like it was doing an internal software upgrade or something but the ventra/bus was OK on it's return trip. I notice the global displays/train tracker signs do that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 They needed to put 2 or 3 chips in the card. Transit needs to function faster and gotten right the first wave than CVS checkout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 ....I was told that soon (they said 10/15, today) the CTA armored trucks will become Brink's armored trucks and there will be no more CTA armored trucks. I believe the Ventra machines are being delivered by Ford Express vans. There is a solicitation for Armored Car Service. So, not as soon as you thought, but eventually, and establishing that Ventra doesn't remove this cost from collecting fares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 There is a solicitation for Armored Car Service. So, not as soon as you thought, but eventually, and establishing that Ventra doesn't remove this cost from collecting fares. Well you can pay for a Ventra Card or ticket with cash, so did anyone seriously think the transporting cash part of the process was going to disappear? So that part of if I think we can not get so hung up on. Or do we want to hear folks crying they can't buy or reload a card because of the machines being full and they didn't want to use their debit or credit card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Well you can pay for a Ventra Card or ticket with cash, so did anyone seriously think the transporting cash part of the process was going to disappear? So that part of if I think we can not get so hung up on. Or do we want to hear folks crying they can't buy or reload a card because of the machines being full and they didn't want to use their debit or credit card? The first question is that since Cubic was supposedly providing a "service," whether that service covered collecting money from machines that Cubic, not CTA, owns (as opposed to the old vending machines, which CTA owns). The other reinforces my point made earlier that this "service" apparently did nothing to reduce the cost of cleaning money out of bus fareboxes. The only relevance to bank cards was my prior point that they should not be treated as cash, since CTA does not incur either of the two above costs. However, they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownliner Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 I suppose it is one thing if you are at the checkout at a food store and have 200 items; another if the goal was to speed boarding on buses. Paypass is supposed to be fast. There's a substantial variation in terminal and card performance, with fast terminals and fast cards being seconds faster than worst case cards and terminals. I'd be less than shocked to learn that either or both of the cards and terminals are slow. That's the terminal side of it, not counting whatever the online time is. It's a wireless network in a dense urban environment (anyone know the details?), and I can imagine all sorts of problems with that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 The first question is that since Cubic was supposedly providing a "service," whether that service covered collecting money from machines that Cubic, not CTA, owns (as opposed to the old vending machines, which CTA owns). The other reinforces my point made earlier that this "service" apparently did nothing to reduce the cost of cleaning money out of bus fareboxes. The only relevance to bank cards was my prior point that they should not be treated as cash, since CTA does not incur either of the two above costs. However, they are. The first point, cash is still involved somewhere in the equation so my point still is there that no one should be surprised that the transport of that cash so it can be accounted for in CTA's books is also still part of the equation. Heck, they themselves said from day one you could still pay cash on the bus and now use cash to pay for a Ventra card or ticket. As for your point about how a debit or credit card is handled on the bus or at a turnstile, I wasn't talking about using either of those cards to tap on a Ventra reader to pay your fare as what they call PAYG. I was talking about using them at a Ventra vending machine to buy a Ventra card or ticket. What they did promise explicitly was being able to pay your fare with a debit or credit card which they did come through on. But since you bring that point back up, they never promised explicitly that you would get transfers when you tap your debit or credit card without registering either as the card you're going to use for your Ventra transit account instead of an actual Ventra card and then loading either a pass or transit value on said card. And even during the days info on how Ventra would work was short in coming, one of the first things Cubic said on the Ventra site was that CTA and Pace were still responsible for their own fare structures and policies. So there you go on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTRSP1900-CTA3200 Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's pretty quick. I hold mine about 2-3 sec. against the reader so it picks it up and every time... "GO" appears. Those that only hold about .05 sec. get a "X STOP" very often. It's "Tap and go", but not "Wave and go". That's what a lot of people get confused by with this Ventra system. 2-3 Sec. is very quick time to board per customer. The magnetic stripe cards took about 4-5 sec., longer if there was an issue with reading them. People can be so impatient nowadays. I had a impatient customer a few nights back because their Credit Card wouldn't swipe and didn't like the delay while we had to use the embosser to use the card for the sale. I have the Ventra UPASS. Holding it for 1-2 seconds above the reader does the trick. I don't expect it to be any faster, and I'm honestly fine with that. Although I had "practice" with the Chicago Card Plus for a few rides beforehand. Edit: On a side note, I noticed the "dun-dun" chime the machine makes as it accepts your card sounds a bit similar to the Metra door chime. Funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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