CTA officials on Tuesday will cancel plans that would have put the burden on thousands of Chicago Card customers to prevent deactivation of their expiring fare cards and the potential loss of the unspent balance.
Under the revised policy, letters are being sent to customers who registered the Chicago Cards they received in 2003, notifying them that replacement cards good for another four years will be in mailboxes before the old cards expire starting Oct. 17, officials said.
Chicago Card users who did not register their name and address with the CTA also are catching a break. They can turn in their expired cards for a replacement any time in the future without losing the value on the expired card.
“As long as they still have the old card, we will honor it [by transferring the balance]. Even after the expiration date,” CTA President Ron Huberman said Monday in discussing the policy reversal.
But transferring any remaining balance will still require a phone call to CTA or a trip to the agency’s downtown headquarters.
Many customers were caught off guard last week when CTA announced that the first batch of about 9,800 Chicago Cards — an electronic “smart card” issued in 2003 as a way to take the hassle out of paying for rides — will expire next month. Customers, officials said, would be held responsible for registering or re-registering their cards before the deadline or risk losing their balance.
More than 330,000 Chicago Cards are in circulation. About 51,000 of the electronic fare cards will expire by the end of the year, transit officials said. Customers restock their Chicago Cards by inserting cash into CTA transit-card vending machines.
In addition, Chicago Card Plus cards that were issued in 2004 will begin expiring in January 2008, officials said.
But the renewal process will be easier because all Chicago Card Plus cards are registered, so holders will get replacements in the mail. Value is added to the Plus cards automatically through customers’ bank accounts or credit cards when the value on the cards runs low.
Huberman said Monday that he decided to scrap the hard-line policy on renewing Chicago Cards after receiving an outpouring of angry e-mails as well as comments from customers he encountered while riding CTA buses and trains.
“We made changes based on the feedback from our customers,” Huberman said. “Clearly the system was not as user-friendly as it needed to be.”
Many riders complained they were unaware Chicago Cards expire, although on the back of the cards in small print is a notification that the cards are encoded to last up to four years.
“Why is it left to the consumer to get their card renewed?” asked rider Robert Klos. “Like it or not, the CTA is in the service industry. Imagine having to call your credit card company to get a new card issued when it was coming up for expiration.”
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Balance of power
Customers can have the balances from their old cards transferred to the new ones by phoning the CTA or coming to the agency’s downtown service center at 567 W. Lake St., officials said. Officials are encouraging customers to spend all the money on their old cards before they expire so they won’t have to worry about transferring balances. “We are looking at developing a better way to transfer balances in the future,” Huberman said. [ tribune ]
