Has Ventra made Chicago unlivable without a car?

[ChicagoMeO]

Sometimes the person is not holding it long enough on the reader that you tap, or not holding it in the right place. If you hold it too high upward, it wont read it.

Most of the time i see the bus driver waving people on thru. Have some cash on hand always just in case they insist.

[deefeste]

I bought my first monthly pass 11/04/13, and I use it daily to commute from Uptown to the Loop on the bus and Red Line. Never had a problem. I also have 2 cards I keep for visiting friends and relatives, with a cash balance on each, and they have worked every time we've used them. I sold both my cars.

[tcannon2007]

I use Ventra daily to get to and from work. The only issue I've experienced is having to tap it multiple times before I'd see GO. I have a 30 day pass from my job. So I know I always have money on it. As far as it taking 2 or 3 weeks to get a new card. I've lost my card before, paid cash to get downtown to get a new card at the train station. All I did was called Ventra and activate or register my new card and report my old card missing and they transferred the balance no hassle at all.

[picardlx]

Sometimes I think it experiences a timeout (probably due to network congestion or a slow backend database access) and then 5 seconds later ask for the customer to re-tap, as if it was the user's fault. That's the only gripe I have. And the website is very slow for me. I also have trouble entering credit card info on the mobile version of the website; it continues to ask me to for zip code and phone number, despite those forms being filled-out. Overall, the transition to cashless system has sped-up the boarding process considerably.

[jwaiter]

I lost my card once, a replacement was in my hand in less than 24 hours by going in to the Ventra office on Clinton right next to the CTA offices, it really wasn't a big problem. As i said earlier, I don't have a car and use Ventra/CTA almost every day and it works fine.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Swandaddy

The one nice thing about Ventra is NOT having to go to a Walgreens or a currency exchange to buy a transit pass.

You didn't have to do that with the old Chicago Cards either. Not an improvement.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by tcannon2007

I use Ventra daily to get to and from work. The only issue I've experienced is having to tap it multiple times before I'd see GO. I have a 30 day pass from my job. So I know I always have money on it. As far as it taking 2 or 3 weeks to get a new card. I've lost my card before, paid cash to get downtown to get a new card at the train station. All I did was called Ventra and activate or register my new card and report my old card missing and they transferred the balance no hassle at all.

How did you get them to transfer your balance over the phone? When I called I was told it wasn't possible. When I asked for a supervisor, I was told he wasn't available. I left my phone number, and never got a call back.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

How did you get them to transfer your balance over the phone? When I called I was told it wasn't possible. When I asked for a supervisor, I was told he wasn't available. I left my phone number, and never got a call back.

My friend lost her card and was told the same thing. It does cost $5 to get a new card, that amount is NOT refundable, it does take over a week for them to mail it out to you, and you can't transfer your balance over to another card or combine balances from multiple cards. I can verify this from personal experience. Not sure if this is the case if you go down to Ventra HQ, but this is the case if you call.

ETA: Oh, and a while back, it was impossible to load your Ventra card ANYWHERE, including any store/currency exchange or Ventra machine. This was an issue for almost an entire day in some spots. Bus drivers didn't care of course...

[tcannon2007]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

How did you get them to transfer your balance over the phone? When I called I was told it wasn't possible. When I asked for a supervisor, I was told he wasn't available. I left my phone number, and never got a call back.

I don't exactly know all I know is when I called to activate my card it was activated and when I went to check the balance on it. My previous balance from my lost card was on there. There was no big hassle and it didn't take 2-3 weeks I just purchased a card at the Ventra station. Called Ventra to let them know I purchased the card and they transferred the balance. I certainly did not have to go to headquarters or anything like that. II could be because I had a pass on there but I can guarantee I was able to transfer the balance over the phone painlessly.