Claypool was evasive.

1. He was either ignorant or deceitful as to the extent to which Ventra/Cubic/CTA records and maintains a history of ridership data. His responses were contradictory.

Out of one side of his mouth he says: "Individual use of ridership data has never been done at the CTA and never will be. [Phil] It is not collected on an individual basis. No it is not." Then the other side of his mouth in response to Mr. Prechtel's question: "It [capability to track individuals] may very well be." Then he changes course again: "We do not track individual data for non-law enforcement purposes."

But you can bet that any system of this nature maintains detail tap transaction records if only to support charges to customer accounts. Just like I-Pass where they maintain detail records of each pass through the automated toll gates and users can view their entire history on the internet. Further, where non-Ventra cards are used, that data has to be recorded and tracked to charge the cuscomer's credit card.

And what about Cubic? Who actually possesses, maintains, controls and owns the physical data (i.e. computers)? Cubic or CTA? Who has access to that data, regardless of where it is housed?

Will anybody in the media follow-up? Will anybody in the media investigate the security over access to riders' records? And you can also bet that it won't be long before the NSA "taps" into the data as well. They are not concerned with little inconveniences such as court orders.

2. Claypool did not seem to know if or how CTA personnel were maintaining records of the free rides, where riders were waved through. He seemed puzzled by the concept. He lamely states that video cameras were running. Is someone going to go through months of video at a multitude of locations from thousands of cameras to examine, identify and count who was and who wasn't going through for free? Those lawyers will need objective proof to satisfy a court.

Other questions that should have been asked:

1. Why does it take so long to upgrade software on the buses? Does someone have to physically visit each bus and fix it manually? Instead of being able to upgrade remotely and automatically?

2. How long has that auditor been involved in monitoring the project? From the beginning? If so, did he issue warnings about it? Or did he only recently become involved, after the crisis erupted? And why did that auditor have to appear on-camera? For responsibility deflection purposes? He said very little.

3. When can the public expect to see detailed system test reports?

4. When can the public expect to see a detailed post-mortem report with detailed analysis of what went wrong?

5. When can the public expect a detailed accounting of how much Cubic is being penalized and the methods used to determine the amount?

6. Why are all the jobs this thing created located everywhere except Illinois? Including the high-tech jobs which are presumably in San Diego?

7. Does Claypool accept any responsibility for failing to monitor the development and implementation of this system? Does he consider it to be his signature accomplishment?

The new Ventra system should be verifiable. When the card is used, the Ventra machine should not only light up green which is already universally understood as "go" but should also show an expiration date and time of when the added value to the card expires. The magnetic strip cards that are still('til Dec 15th) used have an expiration date and time stamped when first used. Should there be a glitch in the system in which the red light comes on in the Ventra machine, the system would still give a date of when the added value expires. This way the passenger is not inconvenienced by having to pay more money because the system is not verifiable. In the age of electronics, this should not be a hard thing to do!

If CTA has changed the data collecting instrument (bus farebox codes) since the RTA began it's probe, can the change possibly be viewed as 'impeding' an investigation?

Excellent point!

I am amazed that there was not a single question addressing the 75 cents surcharge Ventra forces you to pay for a one way fare. One way on CTA is now $3.00?

Surcharge is only for paper tickets. Grab yourself a Ventra card (and register it) or use any contactless bank card and there is no $0.75 fee.

And what if you have no bank account, and thus no credit card? You're now paying $3.00 for a one way fare and there is still no explanation as to why.

Use cash at a Ventra vending machine. Pay a $5 once to purchase the ventra card and do not register it. No $5 refund for registering your card, but your fares will return to $2.00/2.25.

I reckon if you are sans bank account 5 bucks isn't something you have to throw away. Again, why? What reasonable explanation is there for a new charge?

There was a $5 purchase fee for the Chicago Card as well. You do not need a bank account to register your Ventra card and get a $5 transit refund.

And if you didn't purchase the Chicago Card you could just pay the regular fare in cash. Again, no explanation for that unnecessary surcharge. Keep on pridefully saluting a new product that dicks over the poor, by all means they need all the help they can get.

http://www.transitchicago.c...

And of course by "register" DJ means give the government your name, address, phone number, and email address so it can track your movements, and hopefully make money off of you by marketing inferior debit card services to you.

I guess I don't have the same fear of government nor loss of privacy.

Ventra and CTA are betting that people will use the Ventra cards as irresponsibly as they do credit cards. That is to say, incurring penalties and making unnecessary purchases. They will make money on the interest rate alone, that's why they've done it.

Exactly! Thanks Larry.

A waste of time and money! That's how I would sum up my experience with Ventra thus far. My daughter's student card has been a serious thorn in my arse. It takes over 15 taps just to get a "GO" from her card when boarding buses ...sometimes she gets waved on by bus drivers while other times, the bus driver waits (impatiently) for that "GO". I have called as well as emailed customer service on Ventra side and still waiting for replies back - that was two weeks ago. I've called again only to have the service person take my name and phone number again when complaining about her card and why Ventra keeps taking $2.25 off her card on weekends when she's only suppose to pay the $1.10 half fare. I'm still waiting for answers, CTA and Ventra!

When the CTA cried Doomsday Chicago stepped up! Why are we trading a system that works for one that does not work well?! Who is standing up for the people? Who is protecting us? I had to stand in line for two hours at the Ventra office to make the card work.

Two hours on the phone yesterday being told by Ventra I need to call RTA and by RTA that I need to call VEntra. Still no on-line access to the system because no one could tell me how. "Yeah," said one representative, "That's messed up alright."

Jim20: Yeah, fire somebody--'cause, you know, that will certainly solve the problem. Yes Ventra has had issues (and I've personally had one with my card, but it was fixed quickly) but firing someone is not going to make it better. Stepping up and taking responsibility to fix it will. Say what you will, but I give Claypool credit for taking full responsibility for something he inherited. Remember, this began under the Daley administration about 8 years ago.

Since I'm (alas) not able to make it tonight, here are the questions I
would like asked of the government representative (presumably Forest
Claypool):

1) "Even putting all the massive glitches aside, given the intrinsic
technical limitations of the Ventra system (such as the inability to see
the balance at the turnstile and having to be careful your credit card
isn't charged), are you now finally willing to admit that the true
purpose of Ventra was to allow the a private company (and, via its
"cut", the City of Chicago) to make money off of riders by forcing them
to carry an overly-complex card that can be used as a debit card?"

2) "If you aren't willing to admit this, are you willing to put your
money where your mouth is by waiving the requirement that riders give up
their personal information (name, address, phone number, email) in order
to not have to pay the five dollar card fee?"

3) "Regardless of the answers to the above, are you willing to promise
that riders will always be permitted to travel anonymously (even if it
costs then $5 for the card)... or do you eventually plan to only permit
those who have registered their name and personal information with the
government to ride the EL and buses? (This wouldn't be possible under
the current system, but I suspect -- along with fleecing the riders --
is one of the true purposes of the Ventra system.)"

4) "Regarding the legislation requiring Metra to have a system-wide
electronic system in place by 2015, how about some transparency
regarding who actually lobbied for such a law? I suspect a poll of most
riders would show that they don't want it. I suspect the law was passed
simply so the government would have another opportunity to spend
hundreds of millions of dollars on some system that will actually make
things worse for the riders. Unless you can prove otherwise, I suggest
you ask the legislature to repeal the law."

What steps will CTA take to improve the customer service experience with Ventra, whether on the phone sorting out complex customer service issues, online fixing small but important ones, or in person when readers fail and CTA personnel need to explain problems to riders?

Forrest Claypool and everyone else who had any input into the decision to go with Cubic should be fired, or at least embarrassed enough to resign.

Cubic was also responsible for CTA's Stored Value Transit Card and Chicago Card.

They should still be fired.

According to everything I've heard in the news all Ventra Cards were finally mailed out to current Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus users. However, I never received mine and when I inquired about it the e-mail response I got October 31st said, in part:

"We have your card in the system processing but the card has not
shipped yet. I apologize but there was a delay in sending these out."

So what happened to those cards? Are they still in limbo somewhere waiting to be mailed? I continue using my Chicago Card Plus and haven't gone out and bought a Ventra card (as was suggested in that response) because of the horror
stories I've heard about trying to transfer the remaining balance over. Will part of the Ventra fix included finally sending me my card by mail allowing me to easily transfer the balance myself online as was to originally have been the case?

I don't believe the metrics being used to track the Ventra fix are nearly enough to understand the experiences of riders like myself.

It's going to take a lot more than what has been done so far to regain my trust as a CTA customer.

Furthermore, I have been a ChicagoCard Plus user for more than 7 years and I have still not received my new Ventra card. I have emailed customer service several times with absolutely no response. I have emailed Ventra with absolutely no response. I have no intention of calling the customer service hotline, as I value my time more highly than they do, considering the publicized wait times to even speak with a CSR. When this terrible system stops accepting the CC+ cards and I still don't have my new, awful, Ventra card - am I just out of luck?

Why do we need Ventra in the first place? The old system utilizing ChicagoPlus cards was great and I had no worries about my account being used improperly or being hacked in order to purchase other items. There is no reason a transit card should be able to buy gum at Walgreens.

Please ask President Claypool the following:

In an era of transparency and accountability, why hasn’t President Claypool
leveled with CTA riders as to the dollar amount Cubic International will absorb
due to bad Ventra transactions? Also, why hasn’t President Claypool and Cubic
International publicly fired anyone over the Ventra debacle? Sometimes to
regain public trust and creditability simply apologizing is not enough. Taxpayers
and CTA riders deserve better!

How can Metra best prepare for a transition to Ventra, given it's open boarding and distance-based fare systems?

As a long-time Metra rider, I cannot possibly conceive of how this Ventra card scheme is going to work on those trains. It was mandated by the state legislature and this wouldn't the first time they were clueless about how the real world operates.

Is the movement toward contracting out of services like transit ticketing good for Chicago in general?

What are the advantages for the Chicago region of a unified fare system for transit?

On November 25 I went downtown to Ventra's office to transfer funds I had on my transit card to my new Ventra card. I just turned 65 and had received a Ventra Reduced Fare Permit in the mail. I arrived at their office at noon and I was pleased that the line was very short because the weather outside was frightful with snowflakes starting to fall. I was told by a Ventra representative that they could not accommodate my request, but if I waited until 5pm there would be a scheduled "Balance Transfer Event" that evening. I asked to speak to a supervisor because I had no desire to wait downtown until 5pm, get in another line, and then make my way home via CTA in the middle of a snowy rush hour. I said that Ventra was practicing Customer Disservice rather than Customer Service. I just officially became a Senior Citizen and fortunately I am in good health. What about other senior citizens who are not in the best of health, make their way downtown to the Ventra office and discover that they have to return when a "Balance Transfer Event" was scheduled. I was given a list that had four such events scheduled from December 1 to December 13. I also was told that these events were exhibited on their website and announced in the media. I guess Ventra wanted to pass the blame onto me for not following protocol. I said that Ventra was not being user friendly as a lot of people have better things to do than reading the fine print on their website. This would be a simple transaction as I had both a transit card with over $10 on it and my Ventra Reduced Fare Permit card which I had never used. Yet Ventra had to schedule "Balance Transfer Events" instead of getting a simple job done for the convenience of their fare paying customers. This ends my Ventra venting complaint. This experience was a major disappointment. Ventra should treat its customers better instead of blaming them as victims.

Just keep using the old card until the balance runs out, Robert.

What happens if I don't use my transit card and my card expires?

Same as always. You lose your balance.

I thought that on the new Ventra Card there would not be an expiration date and that is the reason I made the effort to go downtown and have that balance transferred.

This just in: Ventra is merging with Obamacare. If you go to the hospital, you have to "tap" your Ventra card at the door to get in. If the reader doesn't flash green, you're out of luck. That's how they plan to keep costs down.

I
noticed that Walgreens now offers Ventra readers among their payment options, which begs the question, "If travel vouchers can be used to buy
Doritos, are they still travel vouchers?"

Does the city intend to use this system to track its residents?

Besides
the down-payment, ten year contract and yearly payments, how does
Ventra intend to profit from this system and the city's inhabitants? What
penalties or fees does Ventra intend to adopt?

Why didn't the city council and the mayor just hire some locals to fix the old machines and save us half a billion dollars?

Then someone's nephew wouldn't be getting rich off the deal.

The real Ventra tragedy is how badly CTA fumbled the Chicago Card transition and dramatically undersold the benefits of open-fare. There are real benefits here that Chicago commuters can't grasp because of the confusing emails, frustrating tag lines, and a markedly poor education regarding Ventra.

Apparently those real benefits are so special that neither CTA nor you could elaborate on what exactly they are.

>One type of fare media for all riders of CTA, Pace and Metra.
>All riders get to "tap and board" (speeds are improving and Cubic is contractually obligated to hit 50ms for the vast majority of taps).
>No need to purchase a transit card—pay with any contactless credit card. >Ventra or personal credit cards can be loaded with transit value or passes online or at vending machines.
>Ventra is account based so all transit users can register and protect their balances in the event their card is lost or stolen.
>Ventra readers process payments in real time so cards that are reported stolen or have no balance can't be used.
>Based on open-standard contactless RFID technology—replacing the aging proprietary chips that are no longer manufactured.
>Less expensive to operate and maintain than the current Magnetic Stripe and Chicago Card fare collection systems.

>One type of fare media for all riders of CTA, Pace and Metra.

I suppose I'm lost on how this is beneficial.

>All riders get to "tap and board" (speeds are improving and Cubic is contractually obligated to hit 50ms for the vast majority of taps).

By all riders you mean those with either a Ventra card or a bank card with Blink. So nothing's changed from Chicago Card.

>No need to purchase a transit card—pay with any contactless credit card.

Same as Chicago Card. And if you have no credit card? $3.00 fares for you.

>Ventra or personal credit cards can be loaded with transit value or passes online or at vending machines.

Same as Chicago Card.

>Ventra is account based so all transit users can register and protect their balances in the event their card is lost or stolen.

You tell me how calling in to report a "stolen" card goes for you.

>Ventra readers process payments in real time so cards that are reported stolen or have no balance can't be used.

wooo!

>Based on open-standard contactless RFID technology—replacing the aging proprietary chips that are no longer manufactured.

No longer manufactured because we've switched to Ventra.

>Less expensive to operate and maintain than the current Magnetic Stripe and Chicago Card fare collection systems.

According to Ventra?

I don't consider ANY of these alleged advantages to be advantages! (For instance, I prefer paying with cash. I seldom use a credit card for anything. And I prefer to not have the government track my every movement. And I don't keep so much money on the card that if I lose it it is a big deal.)

Furthermore, the government will always say the new system is less expensive than the old system... but that doesn't mean it will turn out to be so. And I don't see how anyone could believe that it this case it will be, given all we've seen so far.

If they would just be honest and admit this system is inferior, but they shoved it down our throat just in the hopes that people (out of lazyness) would eventually use the optional debit-card features (even though they cost more than most debit cards), at least I'd give them points for honesty.

As it is, I've gone from once having a fairly positive view of Forrest Claypool to no longer having such a positive opinion.

And, as one recent Chicago Tonight panelist said, they (reporters in general) have probably gone to easy on the CTA because of Claypool's former reputation. I remember being shocked when he took the job... but now I see why. The CTA knew they'd need somebody with a great rep if they had any chance of pulling the wool over people's eyes.

Will there be a representative from CTA and Ventra there to address concerns and questions?