CTA opens tunnel, launches new fare card - Industry Today - Chicago Transit Authority - Brief Article

Railway Track and Structures, Jan, 2003

Chicago Transit Authority recently unveiled a $10-million transfer tunnel connecting the CTA State/Roosevelt Red Line subway with the Orange and Green elevated lines, providing a convenient accessible transfer between the stations. Before the 220-foot tunnel was built, passengers had to exit one station and walk outside to reach the other.

CTA also launched the Chicago Card, which resembles a credit card and uses smart card technology that enables customers to simply touch the card against a target on bus fareboxes and rail turnstiles and go. The technology allows for fare balance protection, a four-year use life and greater durability than magnetic strip cards.

CTA has a $1.5-million contract to purchase 300,000 Chicago Cards over the next three years from Cubic Transportation Systems, which owns the patent on the smart card technology. Cubic manufactured the CTA's current automated fare collection system that was installed in 1997, a $106-million investment that first introduced the use of fare cards to CTA riders.

The CTA board recently awarded a $1.5-million contact to upgrade the Red Line Sox/35th Street station. The work will begin this month in conjunction with a bridge rehabilitation project that is currently under way at 35th Street by the Chicago Department of Transportation. The renovations will include lighting and floor improvements, the installation of a mid-bridge canopy over the crosswalk at 35th Street, a decorative fence and railing system and an art canopy over the sidewalk.