The Chicago Card and the Chicago Card Plus were
contactless smart cards used by riders of the
Chicago Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...
(CTA) and
Pace to electronically pay for bus and train fares in the city of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, USA and the surrounding suburbs. On June 1, 2014, CTA and Pace stopped accepting these cards as part of a transition to
Ventra
Ventra is an electronic fare payment system for Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois) which replaced the Chicago Card and the Transit Card automated fare collection systems. Ventra (purportedly Latin for "windy," though the actual Latin wo ...
.
The blue Chicago Card was a stored value card. Users added value to the card at CTA
vending machines
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...
or at select retail locations, and turnstiles or fareboxes deducted value from the card. Users usually registered cards with CTA and could receive a replacement in the event of theft, loss, or damage to the card.
The blue-and-gold Chicago Card Plus was an account-based card. Users linked the card to either a
credit card
A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
,
debit card, or employer-provided transit benefit program. The cards could be set up as monthly passes or on a pay-per-use basis. The account reloaded from the linked source either when the monthly pass expired or when a user-defined threshold was passed on a pay-per-use card. Because of this direct link to personal accounts, all Chicago Card Plus cards were registered by their users.
History
CTA's Automated Fare Collection (AFC) system was installed in 1997 by
Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., the largest provider of AFC systems in the USA. The AFC system replaced the CTA's tokens with magnetic-stripe stored-value cards printed on plastic or paper based on Cubic's earlier
MetroCard
The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and M ...
implementation in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. All fare collection and payment equipment was designed to be retrofitted at a later date with smart card readers, a technology that was on the horizon. A small pilot program ("Chicago Gold") for reduced-fare disabled riders in 1999 led to a contract with Cubic to install smart card readers universally in 2000. In August 2000, a more extensive "Chicago Card" pilot program distributed stored-value smart cards to volunteer participants. The pilot program was expanded system-wide in November 2002. The Chicago Card Plus debuted in January 2004. "Go Lane" card readers were installed in the buses, starting in 2005, allowing Chicago Card users to bypass the line of passengers using the farebox; however, only one payment could be accepted at a time, eliminating this possible efficiency. The Go Lane card readers were removed starting in May 2010 and Chicago Card card readers were moved back to the main fare box.
In February 2007, CTA announced that it had settled a class action lawsuit
alleging there were not enough Chicago Cards available to meet demand on January 1, 2006, when the cash fare increase went into effect, but Chicago Card users were charged the old fares.
Benefits
Benefits of the Chicago Card and the Chicago Card Plus included the following:
*Because it was a contactless card, the card never needed to be removed from its holder, be it a wallet, purse, or backpack. (It may have needed to be removed if there was another smartcard nearby)
*The Chicago Card could be reloaded at any L stop and many currency exchanges and supermarkets.
*If registered, the card could be replaced.
*The Chicago Card Plus was an account-based system that allowed customers to manage their account using the internet and a credit card for added convenience.
*Until July 1, 2013, Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus users paid only $2.25 at the O'Hare Blue Line station instead of the new $5 fare.
Disadvantages
*A 30-day pass was only possible with the Chicago Card Plus.
*Unlike many other transit "monthly passes" the Chicago Card Plus only offered a "30 day pass," meaning the pass was active for 30 days regardless of when the account is activated. This card had to be loaded twice in some months because of this feature.
*In order to obtain a 30-day pass, users needed to link a credit or debit card account. Reloading at CTA/retail locations was not possible.
*In order to postpone a 30-day pass (even for one day) the entire card had to be deactivated and could not be reactivated. (A new card had to be activated.)
*The regular (blue-only) Chicago Card was only able to be loaded at specified CTA/retail locations.
*Users were unable to transfer funds between Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus.
*The two cards had very little in common, making it difficult to choose which card to purchase. Some users found themselves possessing both cards depending on their commuting needs and financial situations. This caused riders to spend more money than necessary in order to maintain the two cards.
*Because the cards were registered to discrete individuals, the CTA could track user movement through the system.
*All cards expired four years from date of manufacture and had to be replaced when they expired. Though the replacement was free there was no expiry date printed on the card and recovering a balance could occasionally be difficult.
*The card sometimes had to be taken out of the user's wallet if there was another smartcard close by.
Student Pass
In addition to the blue card, CTA also offered transit cards to students in both grammar schools and high schools. The passes included the phrase "STUDENT RIDING PERMIT", the year that the card was active, and the card's expiration date. The cards appeared in a variety of colors including pink, blue, and yellow. Student Passes could be bought at many schools and allowed students to pay $0.75 instead of the standard $2.25 fare. Disadvantages included the possibility that presentation of the passenger's student ID might be required in order for the pass to be honored and that the card was only valid on school days when school was in session (Monday through Friday, from 5:30 A.M. to 8:30 P.M., excluding holidays such as Thanksgiving Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and the two-week winter break period including Christmas Day and New Years).
Phase-Out
The CTA announced it would replace the Chicago Card and other fare media with a new electronic fare payment system named
Ventra
Ventra is an electronic fare payment system for Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois) which replaced the Chicago Card and the Transit Card automated fare collection systems. Ventra (purportedly Latin for "windy," though the actual Latin wo ...
.
There are also reports that the
Regional Transportation Authority is planning to require that Pace and
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. ...
adopt that system.
[{{cite news, url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/apr/03/local/chi-rta-meeting-03-apr03, title=RTA aims for 1 fare card for all transit, publisher=Chicago Tribune, author=Richard Wronski, date=April 3, 2009, accessdate=2009-12-26, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421090946/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/, archive-date=2012-04-21, url-status=dead] The transition to Ventra was completed in the summer of 2014.
See also
*
List of smart cards
The following tables list smart cards used for public transport and other electronic purse applications.
File:SingapourMetroCard.jpg, Singapore EZ-Link add value machine
File:SL-Access card.jpg, Access card that is used for public transport i ...
*
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
(the
Breeze Card
The Breeze Card is a stored value smart card that passengers use as part of an automated fare collection system which the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) introduced to the general public in early October 2006. The card autom ...
)
*
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
(
MetroCard
The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and M ...
)
*
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
(
SEPTA Key
The SEPTA Key card is a smart card that is used for automated fare collection on the SEPTA public transportation network in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. It can be used throughout SEPTA's transit system (bus, trolley, subway, high speed l ...
)
*
Washington D.C.
)
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(
SmarTrip
SmarTrip is a contactless stored-value smart card payment system managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) uses a compatible payment system called CharmCard. A reciprocity ag ...
)
*
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
(
Ventra
Ventra is an electronic fare payment system for Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois) which replaced the Chicago Card and the Transit Card automated fare collection systems. Ventra (purportedly Latin for "windy," though the actual Latin wo ...
)
*
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
(
Clipper card
The Clipper card is a reloadable contactless smart card used for automated fare collection in the San Francisco Bay Area. First introduced as TransLink in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) as a pilot program, it was rebran ...
)
*
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
(the
Octopus Card)
*
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
(
Transit Access Pass
The Transit Access Pass (TAP) is a contactless smart card used for automated fare collection on most public transport services within Los Angeles County. It is administered by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) ...
)
*
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
(
OPUS card
OPUS is a rechargeable, dual interface (contact/ contactless) stored-value smart card using the Calypso Standard and is used by major public transit operators in Greater Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It complies with the ISO/I ...
)
*
Greater Toronto Area &
Ottawa (
Presto card
The Presto card (stylized as PRESTO) is a contactless smart card automated fare collection system used on participating public transit systems in the province of Ontario, Canada, specifically in Greater Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. Presto ...
)
*
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
(
T-money)
*
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
,
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
(
EasyCard)
*
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
*
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
(
Suica)
*
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(the
Oyster Card
The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...
)
*
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
(
Navigo)
*
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
(
CharlieCard)
*
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
(
ORCA Card
The ORCA card (standing for One Regional Card for All) is a contactless, stored-value smart card system for public transit in the Puget Sound region of Washington, United States. The card is valid on most transit systems in the Seattle metropo ...
)
References
External links
Reloading locationsOfficial Chicago Card websiteChicago Transit Authority website
Chicago Transit Authority
Contactless smart cards
Fare collection systems in the United States