CTA tests "Convention Pass" at Gay Games
In a CTA pilot project, every athlete in the Gay Games -- set to begin Saturday and go through July 22 -- gets a special Convention Pass that will allow them unlimited CTA rides for 10 days.
"The cards will have no value assigned to them and will be encoded with a fixed start and end date, from July 14 through July 23, 2006," according to the CTA press release. "Chicago Games Inc. will pay CTA $150,000 up front for the cards and provide a database that identifies demographic information for each individual recipient."
“Almost seven million individuals come to Chicago each year for conventions or conferences and many of them are not familiar with the public transit options available for traveling around the city,” said Chicago Transit Board Chairman Carole Brown. “The pilot will allow us to evaluate the use of prepaid farecards by attendees of the Gay Games and help make it easier for visitors to the city to use the system, as well as allowing CTA to increase its share of the visitor transportation market.”
"Following the games, CTA staff will analyze C-Pass usage to calculate the market value of all rides taken. The market value of a ride is the regular full fare that would be paid for a comparable ride by a member of the general public during the period of validity. If the market value of the rides taken exceeds $150,000, CGI will pay CTA the difference. "
Victoria Stagg Elliott, an ice skater who is competing on Tuesday, shows us her Gay Games card in the accompanying photos. Best wishes to her in the competition. She's a good pal of mine from work.
And be sure to visit her blog for the The Insiders' Guide to Gay Games VII Chicago 2006.
The C-Pass sounds like a great idea - I'll be curious to hear the results of the pilot program.
(P.S.) Victoria's certainly been in the media spotlight lately with the 'Games! (She's a mutual friend.)
Posted by: Lenka | July 14, 2006 at 03:45 PM