BOB2 Wrote:
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> There are fare card architectures that, if
> properly designed, can store and credit, various
> operators, and various fare types, interagency
> transfers, and discounts.
>
> LA's costly fare card does work, and does some of
> this, and the LACMTA was able to bludgeon
> Metrolink and many local bus operators into
> submission, much to that card vendors benefit, and
> have effectively forced them to use the same card.
> LACMTA holds the funding card and can do that.
> CTA and Metra have always been independent 900
> pound gorilla's and so they may want to go with
> different vendors who won't integrate their
> systems.

I appreciate what you are saying, and I assume the 900# gorilla analogy applies.
But, you speak of politics. I am still puzzled by the idea that a whole slew of urban folk are going to have to learn that their routine trips, ie to jobs, are no longer covered by a base fare.
You are commenting on the political affairs of vendors, a big issue; I am speaking to the fact that the fare structure for a lot of folk is going to change.
Like I said, 40+ years ago, I was buying tokens at a booth. Now I am faced with the need to buy paper tickets with magnetic stripes from a vending machine, and that is just for a routine trip on the CTA.
I can't wait to see the hoops that a nanny on the south side of Chicago needs to go through to get to her client in Arlington Heights.