CTA Tattler

And to think, all I used to do was put the smart card on the back of my hand inside the glove. I never saw the need of a pocket I could retrieve it from.

Myth, just for the record, I have a couple of pairs of gloves, depending on the cold severity. The old "card inside the glove" method works with my thin gloves, but not with a thick pair I have and use most of the winter.

My Chi card plus works through my wallet, why wouldn't it work through gloves? wacky.

Considering the rate at which I lose pairs of gloves, this looks like a poor choice for me.

Just to clarify: a donation of any amount will enter you in the raffle. It's not an auction.

And, I would file this under "very odd". I had visions of my 15 minutes involving a red carpet an an Oscar--not a mitten :-).

Thanks for the plug!

This is all fine and dandy, provided that your Chicago Card actually works properly. Mine was nothing but problems (even when it was taken completely out of my wallet). I ended up switching to 7-day passes because, of course, CTA customer service is completely unresponsive. The mittens are cute...but if the Card sucks to begin with, they're not worth it. :(

Brian, glad to know its not just me- I had my year old CCP go batty on me, stop reading unless I smacked it repeatedly on the sensor for minutes on end. Used the Chicago Card website to request a replacement- they charged me $5 for the privilege, killed my old card immediately, which meant I had to buy 7-day passes until the new one showed up in the mail almost a week later (wtf? my first card arrived in a couple days). Now this new card, not even a month old, is doing the same thing. Acck!

I wish we could replace the CTA's quality with that of Boston's T.

Agreed w/Brian & Sten--seems if the temp drops below 30, my card stops working well. I keep my CCP inside my fleece glove, take it out and blow a rush of warm air on it right before the turnstile(I know this sounds dirty but true!) and only THEN does it maybe work!!
Good to know that the CTA kills your old card immediately if you request a new one (that was my fear).

Back on topic--Cute mittens Colleen! If I didn't lose gloves & hats so frequently, I'd get myself a pair of them....

I have a pair of ski gloves--the ones with the half-fingers and a mitten flap over them. I put my CCP in the flap. Sometimes it works through the glove, sometimes it doesn't.

Odd. I've never had a problem with my CCP. Or my plain old regular Chicago Card.

Than again, I've always kept it in my wallet... I won't bother knitting the mittens.

Those mittens are cute.

I sympathize with y'all's Chicago Card problems. Those bus drivers can be pretty nasty too when it doesn't scan correctly. Like I'm trying to get away without paying my fare, rather than my card's just a piece of crap. One time my card just absolutely refused to work and the driver told me I had to get off the bus or have someone else pay my fare. Luckily a couple of nice guys came to my rescue. (I found out later after complaining to the CTA that the card did go through. Apparently the driver was just giving me a hard time because she didn't like white girls or something).

The last time I had to get my card replaced it took the CTA a
MONTH to get me a new one and I'm on the $75 a month program so I was totally hosed. And of course there's no way to get any sort of recompense.

I had the same experience as Snarla, being put off the bus at Western and Chicago because my Chicago Card Plus (unlimited monthly) pass did not work. I was miles from my destination, ready to cry, but managed to scrape together enough in exact change from the bottom of my purse,pocket, etc to get on another bus. CTA let me trade in my card for a fresh one but being stranded in an unfamiliar neighborhood has made me wary of the bus system.

Snarla.... hilarious.... can't blame the bus drivers for crappy cards, but you can blame them for their attitudes.

I was in the lobby of the thompson center about to go through the "go lane" (anyone notice how some of the go lanes still have the regular cards and people still use the "cc only" lanes?) and this woman touched her card there atleast 7 or so times... how every many times a card can be used in at one time.... once she went through the green light kept flashing enter and a whole crowd just went through the turnstile. I kinda feel soory for her cause she's gonna see she paid $15 for one ride.

I've been using the CCP since they came out--I think we were beta-testing the system for them through work--and I am now on my 6th card. The worst experience I had was when I called for a replacement for my first card. They didn't tell me on the phone I couldn't try to use the card (which was working sometimes, but not always). The first bus I got on the driver screamed at me, took the card, and made me get off w/o even letting me pay cash. She was awful.

I went through two cards after having several of the same experiences on both the bus and El as reported above. (Cheryl, if you're on card 6, you have the patience of a saint. I envy you.) Seriously - if you cannot master simple LED technology, you should not even bother to try the really hard stuff, like a functional fare card. I know that there are credit cards that now are "touch and go" - are those as flawed as these junky CTA passes?
To end on a positive note, my complaints to the CTA generated a full refund rather than yet another card. And I promptly used the cash to get Metra passes.

If you work downtown, or can go downtown -- go to the CTA office up on Lake & Clinton and get a replacement card in person. Wait in line a few minutes, get charged $5... that's it.

Yeah, except they make you wait 3 business days between the time you reported your card defective and when you can go pick up a new one. It's better than waiting for it to arrive in the mail, but there's still a wait.

wish we could replace the CTA's quality with that of Boston's T.

I wouldn't wish that on Chicago

"wish we could replace the CTA's quality with that of Boston's T."

Now that isn't a very nice thing to say ;)

The Chicago card is another undeniable example of CTA's dishonest,lying,shit quality work!

Colleen Boston's beloved Subway Knitter has announced the winners in her mitten raffle. More importantly she raised 1,625 for the homeless shelter for women Rosie's Place in Boston.

http://www.subwayknitter.com/2007/01/by_the_numbers.html

My Chicago Card Plus didn't work after my job added in the $75.00. So I returned the card, but it didn't work for 1 week!! (it did not show up to the bus driver that it was authorized but it was supposed to be) I had to take one weeks worth of buses not sure if it was going to work or not. Fortunately I went to the 567 W Lake CTA bus office and they gave me 1 free week on my card and a 7 day pass. they also said if i mail in my old card I'll get $5.00 back. I forgot to do that and its still in my dresser.

What in the hell are you guys doing to your cards? I've had mine for quite a while, and it always works fine..