Rush Hour Ventra Outage Results In 15K Free 'L' Rides
By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 14, 2013 3:40PM
Rush hour riders on CTA trains were privy to the latest Ventra failure Wednesday when card readers stopped working at 60 rail stations. The failure occurred around 4:30 p.m. when a "back-office server" resulted in an "intermittent rippling effect" across 165 of the 800 readers at the rail stations—20.6 percent of the readers. The glitches lasted anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes and resulted in a deluge of complaints on social media.
CTA officials estimated they allowed 15,000 riders through the turnstiles during the outage that came hours after CTA President Forrest Claypool commended what he called "Ventra's improved performance." Claypool announced last week CTA was suspending its Ventra timetable while the company worked out its issues with faulty card readers, double charging riders and customer service.
At this point, riders must feel like they're winning the lottery every time their cards work properly on a Ventra reader.
Related:
CTA Riders Air Ventra Grievances At CTA Budget Hearing