Tony Lossano, etc.: CTA, A Well Run Company, Like A Runaway Train!

Back when CC was new!

My troubles with the CTA continue...

Yes, I am still waiting for my Ventra (the more simple, seamless and stress-free) Card, but now, my Chicago Card is acting up. I pay monthly for an unlimited pass. I checked its funds and expiration dates online, and both are all-good.

Yet, for the past three days, I went to the same Blue Line train stop, and each time my card did not properly work. I tried tapping it several times, at each of the available turn-styles, and I have discovered, if I use the very last one and tap about a dozen times, for about 30 seconds, it finally beeps, and grants me access to the trains.

That is not how the Chicago Card is suppose to work. That is not how any kind of bus pass should work. If a transit system collects your funds, it needs to provide the service that is mutually agreed upon.

A CTA worker at the train station, (not shown here), told me to go to the headquarters on Wacker. So off I went. From that station, I was about 45 minutes away. When I got there, they were already closed, for about 30 minutes. Did he think that the CTA was running that fast that I could get there in under 15 minutes?

I spoke with the security desk guard, and explained my problem with the card and how I was sent there. She told me that CTA workers often send people to the headquarters with bad information and that there was not anything that I could get done at that time. I would have to come back, (hoping that my faulty card will work one more time).

Even though there was nobody to speak with on the 2nd floor, I realized that she was wrong. I was able to do something...I could freely enjoy the many festivities in the CTA lobby.

Like reading up on info that I can not get from their workers...

ATTENTION CTA WORKERS: Customer Service closes at 4:30 PM

I could enjoy the art...

The CTA Cow On Parade, Circa 1999

I could purchase an umbrella with the CTA map from their automatic gift vending machine...

I hope that their umbrella is more reliable than their bus passes!

I could practice putting my bike on their mock bus bike rack...

This may be useful while I have this bus pass, as I can not take an actual bus with my bike!

It is just too bad that I could not spend the night at the CTA Amusement Lobby, as it could have saved me a trip. Now I have to spend extra funds to go get a working bus pass.

I just hope that the new Ventra Card will be better...

#ventra: website login fails; website registration fails; phone activation fails; contact form buggy; call center wait time: 29 minutes
— Gary Fredericks (@gfredericks_) October 2, 2013

New #Ventra card system for CTA is a disorganized mess. Unless you like being on hold for more than an hour cause your card doesn't work.
— Rick Gano (@rickgano) October 2, 2013

#ventra works the first time I use it, but not the second?? #ventraproblems
— Joel Tonneson (@AKBAR503) October 2, 2013

#ventra hung up on during my first 30 min wait; now on my 2nd. This is after system rejected my access code I was reading out of my account
— Mike Virgilio (@MikeVirgilio) October 2, 2013

Chicago's 'Ventra' is the reason crime is so high --- Making it impossible to get a card, 42 minute phone-wait #WTF #GetItTogether #Ventra
— Arin (@ArinChicago) October 2, 2013

Does anyone else hate their #Ventra card? It's so slow to swipe.
— Mark McWilliams (@markemcwilliams) October 2, 2013

@VentraChicago After 27 minutes on hold, got disconnected. 4th time today. Why won't you help me? #ventravents
— eric3000 (@eric3000) October 2, 2013

Wondering how I keep ending up negative on my Ventra card when I only use unlimited passes not cash. #fuckyouventra #ctafail
— Elliott Junkyard (@elliottjunkyard) September 28, 2013

And then, the best news...

REMINDER that in 5 days, @cta riders can no longer add value to Chi Cards + rail stations will no longer sell mag stripe cards. #VentraVents
— tracyswartz (@tracyswartz) October 2, 2013

At least this video, makes everything seem so easy...assuming that I eventually get a new card, can register it online, and that it indeed works properly...but beyond all of that, yes, it does look simple.