Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) announced that its customer Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) received the 2016 Innovation Award for the Ventra Mobile App from the American Public Transportation Association. The product’s success is based on the collaborative effort of Chicagoland transit organizations including the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), suburban bus operator Pace and commuter rail Metra.

The Ventra Mobile App provides one-stop convenience for transit riders who travel on CTA’s “L” trains or buses, Pace buses or Metra commuter trains – enabling the transit rider to plan, manage and pay for their journeys.

Ventra Mobile App’s features include:

• Serving as an industry first for fully integrating transit services — allowing riders to purchase and manage fares across all three regional transit systems. 

• Offering integrated mobile ticketing on Metra.

• Streamlining Metra’s conductor process to easily validate tickets on smartphones simply by asking customers to tap their phone’s screen. 

• Allowing riders to receive notifications when account balances are low or when unlimited-ride passes are due to expire.

• Tracking frequently traveled transit routes — enabling riders to view schedules and arrival times in advance for Metra, CTA and Pace. 

• Delivering the product on Apple and Android smartphones and tablet devices.

On the day of its launch in November 2015, more than 20,000 people downloaded the free Ventra Mobile App, which became the third most trending app on the App Store. On that same day, riders created 5,000 new Ventra accounts and more than 1,300 riders bought and stored 9,600 Metra ticket rides. To date, the app has been downloaded more than 800,000 times and customers have used it to purchase more than $55 million in fares across CTA, Metra and Pace.