How-to: Paying for Multiple Riders with a Single Card

With Ventra, you can pay for up to six additional riders traveling with you. Ventra will automatically calculate the fare for each additional rider traveling together, including transfers, from your transit account’s transit value balance.

Multiride basics

• When boarding a bus, tell the driver you wish to pay for multiple rides. The driver will press a button that lets you use your card for additional riders.
   
• At train station turnstiles, you can pass your card/device back to others in your group.
   
• If you have a pass loaded into your transit account, only your own ride is covered by the pass. All additional riders' fares are deducted from your transit value balance.
   
• Make sure you’ve got enough transit value in your transit account to cover the fare of the other people traveling with you.  
   
• If traveling with children who qualify for a Reduced Fare, ask for help from a station attendant or bus driver before paying so the Reduced Fare is charged (instead of a Full Fare).

Good to know

• Riders traveling together don’t need to start or end their trips in the same place—you can meet someone along the way and pay for them to ride with you even if you’ve already been riding. Ventra will automatically calculate the correct fare.
   
• Only one rider per card can use a pass (even if you’ve got multiple passes in your pass queue). If multiple people all want to ride with passes, each should use their own cards or 1-Day CTA Tickets, instead.
   
• If you’re using a contactless bankcard or mobile device and haven’t loaded (or don’t have enough) transit value to cover others traveling with you, a PAYG fare will simply be charged for each additional entry, instead.