Pick a card….like maybe a multi-modal transit card?

We live in a time where companies can track our entire online history and offer us up product suggestions with ease.  When I shop for groceries, I receive a coupon with my receipt targeted toward my purchases.  My credit card company knows more about my purchasing and travel habits than my wife.  With the recent, albeit problematic, launch of Ventra card for CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and PACE (suburban bus service), the time has finally come for a simple, easy to use, multi-modal transit payment system.

I am a multi-modal transit consumer.  I use a variety of ways to get where I need to go, and will often plan around avoiding car transit unless the cost or schedule prohibits it.  Right now, for a consumer like me, I have to obtain a separate pass or payment management system to access the different public transportation or vehicle share networks in the city and surrounding area.  This complexity, combined with the cost, stands in the way of greater use of these systems, and a single system that provided a low-cost way to access these networks could increase ridership and revenue with little change in the infrastructure to deliver the service.

Right now, in Chicago, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) coordinates and appropriates to the three major public transportation agencies: CTA (trains and buses serving mostly City of Chicago locations), Metra (commuter rail serving some stops in the city, but mostly suburban locations), and PACE (serving mostly suburban areas).  By state mandate, these three agencies must implement a single collection payment system, which CTA and PACE have done with the launch of Ventra.  Metra, under the previous administration, slow-walked implementation, but with the changes in leadership could come an interest in developing a way to extend the single payment system throughout public transportation at least.

The other significant alternative transportation options come from bike and car share programs.  Chicago has had two major car-share programs over the past decade:  IGo and ZipCar.  The Center for Neighborhood Technology launched IGo as a not-for-profit car-share organization specific to Chicago. (It was recently acquired by the for-profit Enterprise Car Share.)  ZipCar operates as a for-profit corporation, and has a national footprint allowing members access to vehicles across the country.  For bike share, Chicago tried to launch a program on its own in 2011, but that program fell apart, and with the help of some federal funding, a public-private partnership called Divvy Bikes launched in 2013.  These options help to connect travelers between established train and bus stops and their final destinations.  In addition, these options give travelers flexibility to use vehicles for trips that do not naturally lend themselves to public transportation modes of travel (grocery runs or trips to locations not on transit routes).  In transit-dense areas of downtown and the north side, these options combined with traditional public transit mean a resident can live completely without a car.  Although the density of service has not yet made its way to the west and south sides of the city, the potential is there to create equally transit-option-dense systems.

If we are to create a truly transit-friendly city that does not require its residents to own a car for their basic travel needs - a goal that would decrease road costs, decrease pollution, and increase happiness and quality of life - then we need to link all these systems together into the single-payment option.  The precedent already exists with CTA and IGo having developed a version of the CTA Chicago Card Plus (predecessor to the current Ventra system) that would activate IGo cars and also grant access to CTA buses and trains.  A system that provided unlimited access to Metra, CTA, PACE and Divvy, then granted a limited number of car-share rides could easily make money and provide transit flexibility.
Currently, the services individually offer volume discounts as follows:

Metra (for my zone C):      $4.25 per ride, $121 for unlimited monthly (savings of $83)
CTA/PACE:                       $2.25 per ride, $100 for unlimited monthly (savings $8)
Divvy:                                 $7.00 per day, $6.75 per month (paid yearly) unlimited 1/2 hour rides
                                           (savings of $63.75)
Enterprise:                         $10.75 per ride (1 hour or less within 10 miles),
                                           $6.25 per month for $7 per trip rides of unlimited distance
                                           (savings of $12.50 per month)

These savings estimates come from estimates of commuter usage (44 rides a month on Metra and CTA, 20 Divvy rides and 5 car-share rides).  If the agencies and providers are willing to give a nearly one-third discount to a regular user, then why can we not give someone who commits to using all of them instead of vehicle transportation another four or five percent.  For $250 per month, an individual should have unlimited access to public transportation and bikeshare with an allowance of five rides on car share to get them through (additional or longer rides would come a la carte).  If just 10,000 of the current automobile commuters switched to alternative means, it would inject $30 million into the local alternative transportation pool, and save drivers as much as $200 per month.  The kind of win-win that can inject life into local economies.

The truth is, our cities are not able to handle everyone driving individual cars to work every day.  We need robust and vibrant public transportation to keep our cities livable.  If we move toward a system that rewards regular ridership with low costs, and promotes multi-modal transportation, we can both create a culture of ridership and provide needed revenue to make the system more sustainable.