For the first time, Cubic has met the three specific performance standards established by the CTA in November. If this good performance continues, the CTA anticipates announcing in February a new timeline to fully transition the remaining 25 percent of CTA customers to Ventra.

The CTA have demanded that Ventra:

Lower average call wait times to Ventra customer service of five minutes or less to speak to an operator.

Process all Ventra readers taps in 2.5 seconds or less, 99 percent of the time.

Achieve a 99 percent availability or “uptime” on vending machines and card readers on both buses and at rail stations.

All these standards were met in the first week of January. Also during the first week of January, three of every four CTA rides were taken with Ventra.

So be warned - if you aren't yet using the Ventra card, you better get on board. The magnetic-stripe and Chicago Cards will be history very soon.