Company Behind CTA, Pace Open Fare System Has Poor Consumer Rating [UPDATE]

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 15, 2013 4:45PM

Both the Chicago Transit Authority and the suburban Pace bus system have high hopes for Ventra, the open fare system they’ll be launching later this year, mainly because it frees the two agencies from the business of fare collecting and save them in operational costs: CTA is expected to save $5 million in operating costs alone.

But CBS 2 reports the parent company behind Ventra doesn’t have the best consumer rating. Money Network currently has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau. The company had 97 complaints filed against it with the BBB over the past three years, most of them involving problems with the products they were offering and customer service, as well as billing and collection issues.

This isn’t the kind of news that will engender good will with a transit agency like CTA which implemented a “de-crowding plan” that cut bus routes from the network and will shut down the South branch of the Red Line for a full-scale rebuild in spring. CTA Revenue Director Eric Reese was taken aback at the BBB rating and told CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker the agency would “continue to look into” Money Network and its parent company, First Data.

The news of Money Network’s BBB rating likely won’t hurt the bullish nature of companies looking to do business with CTA on future infrastructure projects.

Update: We were contacted by a First Data publicist who sent us information showing Money Network's F Rating was a result of a BBB error that initially misclassified Money Network by size and that the company now has a B+ rating from the BBB.