You know you’ve experienced it. That moment of slight panic as you approach the turnstile of a CTA station, UPass clutched in hand. You take a deep breath as you slide the thin plastic card into the machine and hope it comes safely back to you. It almost always does, but every time you hear the mechanical sound of your card being sucked into the mouth of the machine your heart skips a beat as you flash back to the time it ate your card, or you saw it happen to someone else, or you illustrate the horror stories you’ve heard. “Careful, careful” you say to yourself as you remove the card that is now sticking halfway up. You don’t want to tear it or bend it in any way that could harm the magnetic strip. That tiny card is so valuable to you. It is, in a way, your flimsy little key to the city.

Luckily, the thin and fragile UPass will soon be a thing of the past. Changes are coming to the CTA and thus to the UPass program, affecting the way Chicagoans and DePaul students will interact with the ‘L’ system, likely starting in one year.

As part of the new Open Standards Fare System (OSFS) enacted by Illinois House bill 3597 the CTA must “develop and implement a regional fare payment system,” according to a document released by the CTA. This means new cards and new contactless card readers will replace the current cards and ticket machines at the CTA stop turnstiles and buses in 2014.

According to Associate Director of Services-TSC in Information Services, Eric Breese, the CTA met with DePaul July 17. During this meeting the CTA presented various options for the new UPasses that will be implemented with the rest of the changes for the OSFS. Since then, the university and the CTA have begun negotiations and individual brainstorming sessions to figure out what changes will be made to the UPass program specifically.

Overall, there will be three new types of cards available for patrons of the CTA. One is a general-purpose reloadable card that is linked to a transit account, much like the current Chicago Plus cards. The second is a “White Label Card” that is used by organizational special fare programs, such as the UPass. The last type of card is a limited-use card that can be loaded with a single ride or day-pass fare. They will all be read by contactless card readers at turnstiles of CTA rail stations and on buses.

“The cheap, flimsy plastic cards will no longer be used,” Breese said. He also said that no matter what, the UPass cards will only be distributed once. Each new student (and all returning students) will likely be given their new cards for fall quarter 2013, and that’s it. The cards will be automatically reactivated each quarter a student is registered for classes. This will eliminate quarterly UPass distributions.

“Distributions are very time-consuming both for students and staff of the university,” Breese said.

Jessica Lin, a sophomore and Interactive Media major said that she thinks UPass distribution is as convenient as it can be, but she usually tries to beat the rush when picking up her UPass each quarter. “I think there are enough days, but the time slots are at a hard time for some students.”

Student Government Association President Caroline Winsett believes distribution is a smooth process. “The way we do it is the best way we can. It’s efficient. I’m not sure how much more efficient it could be… I don’t know what we could do to improve it.”

Winsett also said that eliminating quarterly distributions would be beneficial to students. “It would definitely save students the hassle… because we’re a largely commuting school, and we have a lot of students who commute and live off campus,” Winsett said. “It would save people time and definitely be beneficial to them.”

Lin agreed, “I was complaining about that the other day, how I wish the entire year was on one UPass.”

Winsett believes the new contactless cards will also save time for students in transit. “It will be great because it’ll make getting around faster. We as a university pride ourselves as being part of the city. It will be great to increase accessibility for our students,” she said.

Breese also mentioned how close the ties are between DePaul and the CTA. “We are the second largest university using UPass,” Breese said, noting that UIC is the first.

According to Breese, for the fall quarter (2012) DePaul distributed around 18,000 passes between graduate and undergraduate students, and the law school an additional 1,500. In the summer the university distributed 6,000 passes to graduate and undergraduate students and an additional 350 for the law school. Winter and spring quarters typically have fewer students, so each quarter usually has around 15,000 distributed UPasses, not including the law school.

Certain options are being weighed by the CTA, such as whether or not all of the cards will have photos on them or not. Other options, such as having a combined card that would serve as DePaul students’ IDs and UPasses, are on the table and will depend on initial decisions made by the CTA and their partners.

Breese explained these options in further detail. “One option that we can consider is partnering with the CTA and doing a combined card that would be the same card as your ID. We’d need to order custom cards that would have the chip for the CTA turnstile sensors and the magnetic strip [used for swipe access to computer labs, printing, meal plan, dorm entry, etc.],” he said, adding that the other option is to have a separate card for the UPass, like DePaul currently uses.

Either way the cards will be made of a thicker, more durable plastic and have chips to accommodate the new contactless card readers.

“The UPass is so thin that I often misplace it or can’t find it in my wallet,” said senior and Elementary Education major Lleni Margil. “It would be amazing if my UPass and ID were combined because I would not have to worry about having so many cards in my wallet.”

Breese mentioned that same benefit to students of the combined card. “One pro for students is that there’s only one card to carry. A con is that with one card there is more liability. If you lose it, it’s more of a concern,” Breese said. “We also haven’t yet figured out how we would handle replacements and fees, if that would be through the CTA or on our end,” he said.

Winsett thought that having fewer cards to manage would be a benefit, but also thought that losing the combined card at once would be worse than just losing a single ID card or UPass. “If you lose the one card that gets you on the CTA and into your dorm, that’s so many different things that you’ve lost at once,” Winsett explained.

In a survey on depauliaonline.com, 82 percent of 44 total participants said they would be in favor of having their DePaul ID and UPass combined into a single card. Eighteen percent said they were not in favor.

“There is still a lot to consider,” Breese said. “But a pro either way — if it’s one card or two — the university doesn’t have to do distributions each quarter and the cost will go down significantly for administration to run the whole UPass program. And because of this, the cost to students could also go down.”

Breese also mentioned that because the new cards will be more expensive to produce, that might add more cost to the pass, but overall costs could still be lower because the cards will only be distributed once, barring any loss of- or damage to- the card.

“We have not made any final decisions yet and are still working out technical and cost issues, and logistics… so there are a lot of factors to discuss,” Breese said.

According to Breese, the decision could be finalized as far in the future as next summer, depending on how long negotiations with the CTA take. Regardless of whether or not the new passes are combined with the IDs or remain two separate cards, one thing’s for sure: once the new cards are implemented, the old CTA turnstiles will never eat your UPass again.
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