Ventra card: balance, top-up and how it works
Check your balance, add money, add it to your phone — and work out whether you need one at all.
What Ventra is
Ventra is the fare system for the CTA — the ‘L’ and the buses — and also for Pace suburban buses and, through the app, Metra commuter trains. It is not a ticket: it is an account you tap into.
The first thing worth saying is that you may not need a Ventra card at all. Tapping a contactless bank card or your phone at the turnstile costs exactly the same $2.50 and requires nothing to be bought, registered or topped up. A Ventra Card is worth having if you want an unlimited pass, if you want to pay for several people with one card, or if you qualify for a reduced fare.
- Card costs
- $5 — refunded as $5 of travel credit if you register it within 90 days
- Fare
- $2.50 per ride, same as tapping a bank card
- Where
- Any 'L' station machine, plus Walgreens, CVS, Jewel-Osco and other shops
- Balance
- App, website, station machine, or 1-877-NOW-VENTRA
- Expires
- Travel credit does not expire while the account is active
How to check your Ventra card balance
In the Ventra app
The quickest way. Open the app and the balance is on the front screen — travel credit and any pass, with its expiry. Free on iOS and Android.
On ventrachicago.com
Log in to your account. You need the card registered first; if you have never registered it, do that with the card number on the back — it is also what protects your balance if the card is lost.
At any station machine
Tap the card on the reader at a Ventra Vending Machine and the balance shows on screen. No account needed. Every 'L' station has one.
By phone
Call 1-877-NOW-VENTRA (1-877-669-8368). The customer call centre is open Monday to Friday 6am–8pm and Saturday 8:30am–5pm, Chicago time.
At the turnstile
When you tap to enter, the reader shows your remaining balance. Not a way to plan ahead, but it is the one everybody actually uses.
How to add money to a Ventra card
| Where | Pay with | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Ventra app | Card, Apple/Google Pay | Instant. You can also turn on auto-load so it tops itself up |
| ventrachicago.com | Card | Instant; needs the card registered |
| Station vending machine | Cash or card | In every 'L' station. The only option that takes cash |
| Retail shops | Cash or card | Walgreens, CVS, Jewel-Osco and hundreds of local shops |
| By phone | Card | 1-877-NOW-VENTRA (1-877-669-8368) |
Where to buy a Ventra card
A Ventra Card costs $5 and you can pick one up:
- At any 'L' station — every station has a Ventra Vending Machine, they take cash and cards, and they are the fastest option if you have just landed.
- At Walgreens, CVS, Jewel-Osco and hundreds of other shops around the city.
- Online at ventrachicago.com or by phone on 1-877-NOW-VENTRA — but it has to be posted to you, so this is no use if you are already here.
Register it and the $5 comes back as travel credit, as long as you do it within 90 days. Registering also means the balance is protected if you lose the card — unregistered, a lost Ventra Card is exactly as gone as a lost banknote.
Arriving at O'Hare? You do not have to queue at the machine. Tap the contactless bank card already in your pocket at the turnstile and go — it is the same $5.00 airport fare either way.
Putting Ventra on your phone
Two different things go by this name, and they are worth telling apart:
- The Ventra app — manage your account, check the balance, add value, buy passes, and use it as your fare by tapping the phone. Free, iOS and Android.
- Ventra Card in Apple Wallet / Google Wallet — move the card itself onto the phone, then tap the phone at the turnstile. Once it is in the wallet, the plastic card stops working: it is a move, not a copy.
And a third option that needs neither: just tap the contactless bank card already in your wallet. Same fare.
Ventra questions
Four ways that work without a train involved: the Ventra app (fastest), your account on ventrachicago.com, tapping the card at any station vending machine, or calling 1-877-NOW-VENTRA (1-877-669-8368), open Mon–Fri 6am–8pm and Sat 8:30am–5pm Chicago time. The reader at the turnstile also shows your balance as you tap through.
In the app, on ventrachicago.com, at any station vending machine (the only one that takes cash), at a Walgreens/CVS/Jewel-Osco, or by phone. The app can also auto-load, topping the card up automatically when it runs low — worth setting if you live here, pointless if you are visiting for a weekend.
$5 — and you get it back. Register the card within 90 days and the $5 is returned to you as travel credit, which makes the card effectively free. Rides are $2.50 on top.
Probably not. Tap the contactless bank card or phone you already have at the turnstile: same $2.50 fare, nothing to buy, no queue. Get a Ventra Card only if you want an unlimited pass, or you want one card to pay for several people.
Yes — add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from the Ventra app, then tap the phone at the turnstile. Be aware it moves the card rather than copying it: once it is in the wallet, the plastic card no longer works.
With travel credit, yes: tap the card once for each person at the turnstile and it deducts a fare each time. With a pass, no — a pass covers one person, and the card will not let a second tap through straight away.
If it was registered, log in or call and the balance transfers to a replacement. If it was never registered, the balance is gone. That is the real reason to register it, more than the $5 refund.
Travel credit does not expire while the account stays active. Passes run from first use — a 1-Day pass is 24 hours from your first tap, not until midnight.