Ventra: Epic Fail
Who's the guy that looks like he should be making Meth on Breaking Bad? Hey, that's me and that's my Ventra Card. It lets me ride local trains and buses. It's nice that Ventra lets me ride for free but guess what...you guys still suck! Big Time Suck! Epic Fucking Suck!
Now you're saying to yourself, why is he complaining? He rides for free? Let's see...having Parkinson's Disease vs saving $1200/year? Tough call...(eyeroll).
For my readers in India, here's wtf I'm talking about. Ventra is the payment system for riding the trains in Chicagoland. It was suppose to start in January but it was so broken that they've been easing it in. Takes full effect starting in July. Yeah, we've heard that before so I'll believe that when it actually happens.
Here's how bad this thing was. First, people didn't get their cards on time. Next they couldn't get through to Ventra to register them. Then Ventra didn't have enough phone reps to help with that process. Then Ventra was making withdrawals from credit/debit cards whenever people pressed their wallets onto the Ventra machine.
Ok...all those things are now fixed....supposedly. So Howie....wtf are you bitching about.
Here's my beef....You get on the bus. You press your Ventra card against the machine that takes the fare. It's suppose to say GO in green. So many times it doesn't. You do it again...still nothing. Eventually it does...keyword eventually.
If you're getting on a bus along with say 10 others...the above situation will occur with one or two of them. So if 20% of your clients are having issues with the system, that means everything is good to go? Really? You can not be serious!!
As for me, I do have the freebie ride. A couple of times my card has shown as not enough $$ for the transaction. I take the card out, show it to the bus driver and he usually waves me through. Keyword usually.
There have been stories where drivers are not letting people ride because of this. Either pay cash or get off. I haven't seen this personally but I believe it. They are making the drivers responsible for making sure the fare is paid. Unfuckingbelievable!!
I'm just waiting for the day when they do that to me because I'm not getting off the bus. I'm making the driver call the police or CTA headquarters. Yes...I'll be escalating it to the next level and even the level after that because I have the time to do this...I really do!!
The thing I don't understand is there was nothing wrong with the old system so why make the change. Let me guess....MONEY!!! $$$$!!! Isn't that always the case!
I can't wait for July 1st. I guess Ventra isn't completely an Epic Fail. I did get a pretty ID picture out of it.