If you are enrolling to receive a transit benefit with CTA or Pace, you will need to have obtained a Ventra card and activated it. Once you have obtained and activated your Ventra card, you will be able to use Jawnt to enroll in your organization’s CTA and/or Pace benefit.
Obtaining a Ventra card
There are four ways to obtain your own Ventra card.
A Ventra vending machine. These machines are installed at every CTA “L” station, as well as several key Pace stations. The Ventra Customer Service Center also distributes cards from its office at 567 W. Lake Street in Chicago.
A retail location. Over 1,300 vendors throughout Chicago, including most drugstores and currency exchanges, distribute physical Ventra cards. Find one near you with this map.
Request a physical card by mail. You can submit a request online using this online, or over the phone by calling 1-877-NOW-VENTRA.
Activating a Ventra card
Once you have a physical Ventra card from a fare vending machine or retail location in hand, you can activate it over the phone with Ventra.
To activate your card, call 1-866-674-9215. The phone message will ask for the full 19-digit card ID number that’s printed on the card. This number always starts with 637001.