Parking a link: Chicago's "Ventra" fare-payment system<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First, the link: "Ventra's Costs Put Nonprofits in a Bind." (I don't think this is behind a paywall, but you may be able to search based on the title if\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/01\/parking-a-link-chicagos-ventra-fare-payment-system.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parking a link: Chicago's "Ventra" fare-payment system\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First, the link: "Ventra's Costs Put Nonprofits in a Bind." 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{"id":656,"date":"2014-01-20T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/01\/parking-a-link-chicagos-ventra-fare-payment-system.html"},"modified":"2014-01-20T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T13:00:00","slug":"parking-a-link-chicagos-ventra-fare-payment-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/01\/parking-a-link-chicagos-ventra-fare-payment-system.html","title":{"rendered":"Parking a link: Chicago’s “Ventra” fare-payment system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

First, the link: \u201cVentra\u2019s Costs Put Nonprofits in a Bind<\/a>.\u201d (I don\u2019t think this is behind a paywall, but you may be able to search based on the title if so.) <\/p>\n

Second, the context: Over the past six months or so, Chicago has been transitioning to a new fare-payment system, the Ventra card. The system is contracted out (another example of privatization, which works better when the government isn\u2019t corrupt and effectively selling off assets to pay short-term expenses \u2014 see the Skyway and parking meter debacles) and relies on moving users to a \u201csmart card\u201d meant to be reloaded and used repeatedly. As the article explains, $5 is paid, which is applied as a credit to the card when the user registers it online, with a permenent address and an e-mail address. <\/p>\n

Now, the article itself concerns those nonprofits who are accustomed to buying single-ride passes to distribute to their clients to provide transportation to a job interview or doctor\u2019s appointment. And the catch is that, while single-ride paper tickets still exist, the cost has gone up from $2.25 to $3.00 with a 25 cent transfer baked in as well as a $0.50 penalty for not having a Ventra card. This additional charge is a lot for these non-profits to absorb. The statement by the CTA management: \u201conly tourists will use paper tickets, so it doesn\u2019t matter that we\u2019re charging extra.\u201d <\/p>\n

So I find that statement nearly as grating as the CTA\u2019s indifference to the nonprofits\u2019 problems. Tourists are not a cash cow. Every little extra charge adds up to, \u201clet\u2019s go somewhere else next time\u201d or \u201clet\u2019s just drive into the city.\u201d Personally? We usually take the Metra commuter rail into the city, but last October, I took my youngest to the nearest Park + Ride, and then took the El into the city, so he could experience riding it. How often am I going to repeat this, if infrequent users are penalized? <\/p>\n

On top of which, I found it appalling \u2014 I hadn\u2019t read this before \u2014 that one needs to provide an e-mail address to register the card. I\u2019m astonished that this passed muster in a city in which large quantities of the population simply are unlikely to have an e-mail address at all. <\/p>\n

And, for the life of me, I can\u2019t figure out how reduced fares would work, for children. Is there a special Ventra card that\u2019s coded for children\u2019s fares? I can\u2019t find anything about this.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"