Go (Away) Lane?

Whomever came up with the "Go Lane" idea hasn't ridden on Chicago's buses much. It's silly that people can't swipe their CTA/CTA Plus cards at the same time people are inserting their fare cards. People tend to stand right in front of the "Go Lane" sensors when the buses are full, and it's a pain to have to ask them to move. People file onto the buses that don't have a "Go Lane" more quickly. I wish the CTA would move all of the CTA card sensors back onto the fare boxes, where they belong.

"GOING PUBLIC" SAYS: You are 100% correct. I once stood in front of the thing and got a fare deducted on accident. It is a-nnoy-ing, period. Thanks for the comment!

"Sir?" I beg your pardon, but that's "Madame Heron" to you! *grins*

"GOING PUBLIC" SAYS: Ha, ha, ha! I had fixed it. Now you put us both out there. :)

I hate the Go Lane! Especially when people get offensive thinking you "cut in line." Hello? it's the Go Lane, I can "Go" in front of you while you get out your two dollars in change! Ughh!

the main thing is, go lane malfunctions if the two devices get activated too close in time. they made hooplah about it anyway. whatever IT person certified that solution as good to invest a bunch of money and time in, should be fired.

Not to mention that half the time the person using the fare box has big bags, coat, behind, etc. and you can't get past them to use the go lane anyway!

I like the Go Lane, I really used to like the ones at the L Stops. The problem is not the Go Lane, nor is it the fat idots who like to clog the Go Lane (by not going) the problem with the Go Lane is that is can not be used by a preponderence(?) of bus riders creating a much too small minority of riders, especially on the South Side (folk be Goin' like forty goin' north on the 151 and the 156). At fault is the prohibitive and discriminitory fare structure to use the dang cards (Somebody call Jesse!)

The most popular fare card going is the weekly pass. $20 ride all you need to. If this were an option for Chicago CardPlus customers, trust me the Go Lane would really be going. But the way it is now, you have this jaggy hard to schedule fare structure for the monthly pass, every thirty days, deducted on the 27th day, try to live paycheck to paycheck with that over your head. You are not really able to adequately plan to fund your card and we all know a bad debit is going to cost you between $25-$50 maybe more than just the price of your fare. Or the other one where it will deduct when the card drops to below $10 in value (and this when you do not see the value on the card everytime you use it, what kind of idiot thought them lights up anyway? Whatever kind he was, I hope he is an unemployed idiot now.) Again, these are hard to get a budget on.

The chicago Card on the other hand is only worth it for occasional riders (or people who can get to work on one bus maybe) consideering that you get 11 rides for a $20 add on why not just get all the rides you need with a $20 weekly pass.

Now I understand the scheme of the CTA in this matter, they need to be able to hold your money even if you are not really using the card, hence the automatic reload at $10 (they keep the ten) or the automatic reload on day 27 of a 30 day pass (that is a little more than $10 worth of rides they are still holding onto) not a big deal.

Because the rides on the CC+, like the rides on weekly or daily cards are timed to the minute folk should be able to do the exact same thing with CC+ cards that they do with weekly fare cards, with a small difference. First get rid of that auto-deduct BS or at the very least make it an option or not. If you choose to use a weekly CC+ card this is what you will have to do. Your $20 is good for one week, just like the weekly fare card, from the first use. Unlike weekly fare cards, you have up until one day (24 hours) before the week ends to refill the card to maintain weekly status. If you refill anytime previous to that day, you will automatically get 1 week for every $20 you add. This works out nice for people who get paid 15th and end of month or every two weeks.

If you do not reload in that 6 days, on the seventh day it is still a weekly but after that week is up, it reverts to a regular Chicago Card single use. To change it back you have to bring the balance to at least $0 (maybe $1) and then add twenty and tell the machine you want it to be a weekly again.

If the CTA were to do this, then more people would use the card and with more people using the card, the Go Lanes would be the efficient places they were meant to be. Trust me, with more people asking you to get out of the way, you would 'get it' and human behavior would lead people to 1. stay out of the way of the card reader and 2. move over for the card users.

It is not the cards, it is the process that is wrong.

Yes! For heaven's sake get rid of the Go Lane. My beef with it is that sometimes the touch pad is dirty (or has a "weak" signal or something), so it's hard to tell whether or not your card was actually accepted. It's irritating for everyone concerned to try to touch your card, head merrily towards the back of the bus, and be called back by the driver because your card didn't scan properly. But from the Go-Lane touch pad you can't really see the screen that says if your fare was deducted- to see that little screen (you know, the red one that says T1, T2, etc.) you have to block the way for regular passengers as well. I rejoice inside when the touch pad on a bus is actually attached to the fair box- I board as quickly, plus I can tell right away if my card didn't scan right.

Re: the fare options, my preference is the Chicago Plus Card unlimited ride 30-day pass- it's a real bargain for folks that work two jobs (and have to ride the CTA at least twice and sometimes more on a daily basis). Plus, it's awesome to be able speed up my trips around the city (or get out of lousy weather) by having the option of hopping on an oncoming bus without worrying about additional cost.