Originally Posted by
onthesam
Yes transfers work using any smartphone/contactless payment method. A $5 authorization is taken against the payment method at first tap and fare ultimately used will settle at end of the day.<br /><br /><br />
First, let me clarify what a PAYG fare is. A PAYG fare is charged when you use a credit or debit card or a mobile device and DO NOT have a sufficient balance in a Ventra Account associated with that card or device to pay the fare. A PAYG fare is never charged when using a Ventra Card except in the very rare instance that you have no money in your Ventra account AND you have activated the debit card feature of your Ventra Card. This is the terminology that the Chicago Ventra system uses. I realize that it is different than the terminology that London and some other cities use.
Transfers are issued ONLY when you pay for the original fare and the transfer charge from a balance in a Ventra Account. This means you must pre-pay your fare before riding. If the fare is charged to your credit/debit account, you must pay a full new fare each time you board. This has nothing to do with the $5 preauthorization. If you are paying your fare in a way that results in the $5 preauthorization, you will NOT receive a transfer fare.
A quote directly from the
Ventra Terms and Conditions:
If you use a contactless credit or debit bank card or mobile wallet and do not have sufficient Transit Value or a pass in an associated Ventra Transit Account, you will be charged a “
Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYG) fare, which will be charged to your credit or debit bank card or an account linked to your mobile wallet each time you tap. You will not be eligible for transfers.
Yes. Passes can be 'loaded on' (associated with) your contactless payment method using a Ventra machine. Supposedly, functionality to associate a contactless payment method with a Ventra account for online maintenance purposes is is the works.<br /><br /><br /><br />
Yes, it is possible. It's no secret. They even put up a video on YouTube showing how to do it.
They said at first that there would be a way to do online maintenance. But they were assuming that Mastercard would just happily hand over a complete list of all active Mastercard numbers together with the associated Virtual Account Numbers used for contactless transactions. As you might imagine, Mastercard told them to go stuff it. They are no longer claiming there will be such a feature.
Lacking indeed. I don't think they want it well known that riders can use their own contactless methods for PAYG and to hold passes.
If you understand what the Chicago Ventra system means by "PAYG" as opposed to what other transit systems mean by "PAYG," then you'd understand that the only way to use PAYG on Ventra is to have your own contactless method. Again, it's really not a secret.