Wednesday, November 6, 2013

SUN-TIMES: CTA suspends switchover deadlines for problem-plagued Ventra

A Ventra machine
If you're frustrated with the Ventra system here's some good news:
The CTA is suspending all deadlines for switching over to problem-plagued Ventra — a new fare payment system that has left too many customers “confused and frustrated,’’ CTA President Forrest Claypool told the City Club on Tuesday.

Claypool said he won’t pay the Ventra contractor a dime until it meets three new benchmarks: 99 percent of calls to Ventra must be answered in no more than five minutes; 99 percent of vending machines and readers must work, and 99 percent of payment taps on readers must register in no more than in 2.5 seconds.

“Our promise to our customers is that this system will be fixed,’’ Claypool said one day after the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that two alderman were calling for a City Council hearing on Ventra. One called the Ventra rollout a “debacle.’’
Being a holder of a Ventra card myself, the differences between this system and the good old Chicago Card were obvious. I'm sure they're throwing a lot of people for a loop, but this is supposed to be better than what was already in place. I can only imagine the complaints when CTA started doing the transit card.

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