Ventra - Feedback and Updates

[owine]

I had seen elsewhere the point in the link in the article to which you refer that some merchants are trying to disable Apple Pay, in favor of their own systems. Apparently, things will not be as universal as what might be possible.

The "Adding my Ventra card to Apple Pay does not work" was an interesting twist, in that it implies that a Ventra card is not a MasterCard, but maybe the implication is that the Ventra Card is not associated with a bank with which Apple has an agreement.

It's the bank part, not the MasterCard part since only certain banks are participating. At least that is what the message said, just as it said for my PayPal MasterCard (which is unsurprising in its lack of support).

[Busjack]

It's the bank part, not the MasterCard part since only certain banks are participating. At least that is what the message said, just as it said for my PayPal MasterCard (which is unsurprising in its lack of support).

The other thing I found troubling in that article is that Apple is not opening the NFI API. Thus, while it says it is talking to Cubic, nothing necessarily says that the app which the agencies here announced they were developing would necessarily work with an iPhone 6.

[Busjack]

Many of the modern payment terminals don't have a separate pad for contactless. Instead, the contactless reader is behind the screen. When a merchant enables contactless support, the wave symbol will appear on the screen.

Turns out that, as usual, you are correct.

Panera's terminal has an rfid logo on its touch screen. They also had banners saying to get their app, and among the things mentioned on the banner was that you can store your credit card number there. Again this typifies why the transit boards here said that they are developing a Ventra app.

[sw4400]

Apparently, Jewel is accepting Apple Pay according to their Facebook as of 11/19/14. Did they train their employees??? Nope!!! I haven't heard one iota about this.... I hope nobody comes in wanting to use Apple Pay, because I'm clueless as how to input it into our NCR System.

https://www.facebook.com/JewelOsco/posts/10152861546294349

[Busjack]

Apparently, Jewel is accepting Apple Pay according to their Facebook as of 11/19/14. Did they train their employees??? Nope!!! I haven't heard one iota about this.... I hope nobody comes in wanting to use Apple Pay, because I'm clueless as how to input it into our NCR System.

...

If it is like what I described with regard to Panera, you don't have to know anything. Either the Veriphone terminal accepts the NFID signal, or the customer will have to provide another means of payment.

Of course, it appears that your employer was about as interested in getting the word out to employees as WGN Radio was in letting employees of 87.7 The Game find out on the blogosphere first that the station is being shut.

[brownliner]

 

If it is like what I described with regard to Panera, you don't have to know anything. Either the Veriphone terminal accepts the NFID signal, or the customer will have to provide another means of payment.

.

Yes. Apple pay is just contactless EMV. It works, to the terminal, exactly like any other contactless EMV card. the acquiring bank has to support dealing with the tokenized payment, but there's nothing the merchant, the terminal, or the employee running the terminal (if there is one) has to do special.

[brownliner]

I've noticed that ventra have started sending emails for automatic reloads. That took them a year. While I'm glad they've gotten to 1996, it's pathetic it wasn't a feature from day 1, and just incompetence on the part of the CTA that it wasn't a hard requirement in the contract.

[Busjack]

Hilkevitch article on how change orders are increasing the cost of Ventra. Some stuff like the Pace add on shouldn't be a surprise.Charging to fix software glitches should be.

Also, apparently Metra is now in violation of the regional fare payment card law, not that it makes any practical difference.

The one notable thing is that apparently people aren't being suckered by the Ventra debit card, which should make sw and any sane person happy. However,the article didn't mention that that besides it costing Cubic (or more likely Meta Bank) money, it is also costing CTA commissions.

[strictures]

Hilkevitch article on how change orders are increasing the cost of Ventra. Some stuff like the Pace add on shouldn't be a surprise.Charging to fix software glitches should be.

Also, apparently Metra is now in violation of the regional fare payment card law, not that it makes any practical difference.

The one notable thing is that apparently people aren't being suckered by the Ventra debit card, which should make sw and any sane person happy. However,the article didn't mention that that besides it costing Cubic (or more likely Meta Bank) money, it is also costing CTA commissions.

I'm baffled as to why the CTA should pay to fix Cubic's wretchedly incompetent software. That should be Cubic's job, but my guess is that the idiots running the CTA didn't read the contract or the crooked consultants that said to go with Cubic told the CTA to ignore that clause.

And since I now have a Ride Free card, due to Social Security as my income, yesterday on my second bus ride, which was 30 minutes after the first, the reader rejected me as too many rides. That's bad software.

I can't wait for the Chicago Architectural Foundation's Open House Chicago in October, when I'll ride 20+ buses & trains & then I'll get one of those idiotic letters accusing me of lending the card out!

[Busjack]

I'm baffled as to why the CTA should pay to fix Cubic's wretchedly incompetent software. That should be Cubic's job, but my guess is that the idiots running the CTA didn't read the contract or the crooked consultants that said to go with Cubic told the CTA to ignore that clause.

And since I now have a Ride Free card, due to Social Security as my income, yesterday on my second bus ride, which was 30 minutes after the first, the reader rejected me as too many rides. That's bad software.

I can't wait for the Chicago Architectural Foundation's Open House Chicago in October, when I'll ride 20+ buses & trains & then I'll get one of those idiotic letters accusing me of lending the card out!

I implied the first.

On the second, I suppose that this has nothing to do with Tammy Chase not figuring out why CTA's customer satisfaction is down, although if we accept what is posted here, it should be down even more on the northwest side.

[Busjack]

Something I foresaw here (but came up more recently on the CTA Tattler), Hilkevitch's column confirms that some of the problems reading Ventra cards on buses is "some failures to collect fares are caused by problems with telecommunications lines operated by wireless service providers."

Of course, why even the wireless companies refer to "lines" is beyond me.

[garmon757]

Something I foresaw here (but came up more recently on the CTA Tattler), Hilkevitch's column confirms that some of the problems reading Ventra cards on buses is "some failures to collect fares are caused by problems with telecommunications lines operated by wireless service providers."

Of course, why even the wireless companies refer to "lines" is beyond me.

Because they're idiots. :lol:

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

Looks like residential customers aren't the only ones having a hard time from AT&T and Verizon. Let's just hope the CTA doesn't have to fix the problem by having someone show up in the time span from 7AM to 6 PM.

[Busjack]

Looks like residential customers aren't the only ones having a hard time from AT&T and Verizon. Let's just hope the CTA doesn't have to fix the problem by having someone show up in the time span from 7AM to 6 PM.

The issue, at least from the other commenters on the CTA Tattler, is cell dead spots. I don't think whatever CTA's carrier is makes house calls about that.

[Kevin]

Steven Vance has details on how the new Ventra mobile app will work.

[MetroShadow]

Steven Vance has details on how the new Ventra mobile app will work.

Some of the code still needs to be worked out, but I'm confident in the end product.

[briman94]

Some of the code still needs to be worked out, but I'm confident in the end product.

I applied to be a tester. They didn't give me a place to brag about my nerd skills, but I said I was a student who rode the CTA every day so who knows...maybe I'll get in.

For now, I found an app that let me scan my U-Pass and now I can use my phone instead of the actual card (more reliable scanning), but I can't manage my Ventra account from it unfortunately.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

I applied to be a tester. They didn't give me a place to brag about my nerd skills, but I said I was a student who rode the CTA every day so who knows...maybe I'll get in.

For now, I found an app that let me scan my U-Pass and now I can use my phone instead of the actual card (more reliable scanning), but I can't manage my Ventra account from it unfortunately.

​Good luck! I'd think being a daily rider would be enough. I'm going to wait for the public release though, and will continue to buy my paper ticket onboard the Metra train.

Your app sounds like what Apple could do with Passbook for the iPhone (apparently Amtrak tickets can be presented by your phone to the conductor). I'm concerned that my phone won't be helpful with the Ventra app though. It doesn't have NFC, though that shouldn't be a problem if the Metra conductor only looks at the phone or scans the screen.

[briman94]

​Good luck! I'd think being a daily rider would be enough. I'm going to wait for the public release though, and will continue to buy my paper ticket onboard the Metra train.

Your app sounds like what Apple could do with Passbook for the iPhone (apparently Amtrak tickets can be presented by your phone to the conductor). I'm concerned that my phone won't be helpful with the Ventra app though. It doesn't have NFC, though that shouldn't be a problem if the Metra conductor only looks at the phone or scans the screen.

​My app actually works for my U-Pass/Ventra, not for Metra tickets. I actually have more use for a Metra app than this, but alas, they're still using 20th-century payment methods for now. Also, Amtrak e-mails you your ticket now...printing them is optional unless you get them from a kiosk.

[Busjack]

​Good luck! I'd think being a daily rider would be enough. I'm going to wait for the public release though, and will continue to buy my paper ticket onboard the Metra train.

Your app sounds like what Apple could do with Passbook for the iPhone (apparently Amtrak tickets can be presented by your phone to the conductor). I'm concerned that my phone won't be helpful with the Ventra app though. It doesn't have NFC, though that shouldn't be a problem if the Metra conductor only looks at the phone or scans the screen.

​

​My app actually works for my U-Pass/Ventra, not for Metra tickets. I actually have more use for a Metra app than this, but alas, they're still using 20th-century payment methods for now. Also, Amtrak e-mails you your ticket now...printing them is optional unless you get them from a kiosk.

​From what it looks from the South Shore site (very difficult to find), the app can be used to buy and activate tickets but the phone has to be shown to the conductor. Apparently the conductor does not have a reader. Also, by clicking through various stuff, it appears that the CTA/Pace pay by touching your phone is yet to come; the current app basically integrates the Ventra website and the trackers (FAQ).

Finally, according to RedEye, the test was oversubscribed 10-fold.

[MetroShadow]

So, in order, the official app will be released as a test for Trip Planning and Metra Tickets only. Everything else, including the stand-alone phone-at-turnstile will be phased in. ApplePay and GoogleWallet hasn't had the technology (nor the connection) to integrate in the app - yet - but that's a ways off. I think the focus is to make sure the basic level of app is ready for FUT (and last week, I have seen a couple of almost-fatal errors that would need to be fixed).

[briman94]

So, in order, the official app will be released as a test for Trip Planning and Metra Tickets only. Everything else, including the stand-alone phone-at-turnstile will be phased in. ApplePay and GoogleWallet hasn't had the technology (nor the connection) to integrate in the app - yet - but that's a ways off. I think the focus is to make sure the basic level of app is ready for FUT (and last week, I have seen a couple of almost-fatal errors that would need to be fixed).

​Technically, you can associate your Google Wallet "MasterCard" with Ventra just like any other tap-and-pay card, but I think the card number might change sometimes. Not sure how that works. The app I have lets you scan a tap-and-pay card (e.g. a U-Pass/Ventra) and then makes your phone "echo" it back when tapped on the reader. It's slightly faster than the cards and sometimes easier to physically have ready, but there's really no other benefit.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

​

​From what it looks from the South Shore site (very difficult to find), the app can be used to buy and activate tickets but the phone has to be shown to the conductor. Apparently the conductor does not have a reader. Also, by clicking through various stuff, it appears that the CTA/Pace pay by touching your phone is yet to come; the current app basically integrates the Ventra website and the trackers (FAQ).

Finally, according to RedEye, the test was oversubscribed 10-fold.

Thanks. ​I feel like with just a visual inspection of a phone without a reader, the conductors might not trust it as well as the classic ticket and hole puncher. Maybe too many morons would try to make screenshots look like actual tickets or something, even though that won't work. I always pay my fare, but I know there are some people out there who don't.

Also, I'm fine with a conductor who might need to hold my phone to validate the ticket, but if someone decides to snatch my phone out of the conductor's hands (not likely though), there will be problems. Just imagine when the train makes those frequent stops and someone who just boarded has a phone ticket...

[MetroShadow]

Conductors will have the reader as the tickets are (1) Locked with an individual QR code that (2) doesn't regenerate, and (3) has an expiration date (and time) to eliminate fraud... VRE has been doing this and tri-Met's provider is the contractor for Ventra's mobile app. That doesn't mean that there won't be a learning curve users error for the first part of the testing phase.

 

/I'm still a fan of the tap-on-tap-off method but I don't think Metra wants to spend the money on readers galore.

[Busjack]

 

/I'm still a fan of the tap-on-tap-off method but I don't think Metra wants to spend the money on readers galore.

​Besides that, we previously discussed that without closed fare areas, Metra couldn't enforce it (other than charging everyone a Zone J Fare if they didn't touch out), unless they went to something like I-Pass transponders.