| Location | Chicago |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1997 (discontinued in 2014) |
| Technology | |
| Manager | RFID |
| Currency | USD |
| Stored-value | Pay-Per-Ride |
| Validity | |
| Variants |
|
| Website | www.chicago-card.com |
The Chicago Card and the Chicago Card Plus were contactless smart cards used by riders of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Pace to electronically pay for bus and train fares in the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA and the surrounding suburbs. On June 1, 2014, CTA and Pace stopped accepting these cards as part of a transition to Ventra.[1]
The blue Chicago Card was a stored value card. Users added value to the card at CTA vending machines 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, 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.
- ^ "Transitioning to Ventra". Press Releases. Chicago Transit Authority. Archived from the original on June 20, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.