Though it seems to have dissipated as people get used to the new system, there has been a lot of sturm und drang about Ventra over last year.
Now that the drama is over, it might be time for us in the civic innovation sector of the technology industry to turn our attention to building on the open standards fare system infrastructure upon which Ventra was built .
I don’t know where the CTA is in the process of accepting forms of payment other than Ventra cards, but it was always the plan. Here’s a look at the RTA Ordinance that led to Ventra:
And here’s a presentation by the CTA where they ref the idea of accepting all sorts of payment types:
Here’s a document from Xerox that gives a pretty good background on open payment fare systems:
What Open Payment Fare Systems are, and how they work.
Advances in network architecture and telecommunications, combined with innovations in the financial payments sector and widespread adoption of contactless banking products have propelled the adoption of open payment systems by mass transit agencies. Today, leading agencies around the globe are implementing, or are in the process of procuring, new open payment fare systems. In addition to accepting bank issued contactless cards/devices, Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled mobile phones are being introduced to the market. NFC is a standards based wireless communications technology that is being integrated with mobile phones. The technology allows the consumer to download content such as a coupon or a movie tickets to their phone. Additionally, if the consumer desires, they can securely download payment card applications to a mobile device that later can be used at a merchant’s payment card reader with a single tap. A transit agency that has adopted an open payment fare system can automatically accept these NFC enabled devices in addition to the millions of contactless cards that are issued by banks around the world.
(emphasis mine)
It doesn’t take a ton of imagination to think up ways that civic technologists– people interested in how to reduce friction between government and residents– could use this technology to make popular products:
- Create custom transit cards for schools, nonprofits, and youth summer jobs programs that easily allow people to add value . Mikva Challenge youth have been advocating for this for some time now
- Partner with banks to create a “Keep the Change” system so that one can make regular donations to a transit pool that are automatically added to the cards of people who need it
- Create instant NFC-enabled Bonus Transit system, where you can thank people by adding value to their transit card rather than give them a tip or a pat on the back
I could be missing something– maybe the system is not as open as it seems, or the startup costs are insurmountable, or the system is only half-implemented. But on its face, there seems to be some pretty cool things we can do. I’d love to work with someone on this.