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The Chicago Transit Authority and I-Go Car Sharing, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that enables consumers to rent cars by the hour, have agreed to create a single card that would work with both agencies systems, the organizations announced earlier this month. Beginning in December, consumers who sign up with I-Go's car-sharing service and agree to get a Chicago Card Plus card from the Transit Authority will receive one card they can use to ride trains and buses and unlock I-Go cars, Richard Kosmacher, I-Go business development manager, tells CardLine. The card would carry two chips, one for transit payments and one for I-Go car access, so the revenues from the two organizations would not be combined in any way, Kosmacher says. The goal is to make commuters' lives simpler by providing them one card that can meet a variety of transportation needs, he says. The Chicago Card Plus requires commuters to have a credit card on file with the Chicago Transit Authority, which automatically tops up the card balance when it falls below a certain level, the Transit Authority says on its Web site. I-Go requires its members to set up an account with a credit card and bills them each time they use a car, I-Go says on its Web site. The two organizations will begin testing the concept in December with 5,000 cards issued to first-time I-Go members, Kosmacher says.
