OFFICIAL RULES OF THE CTA RIDER LAB
1. Introduction. CTA Rider Lab (“Rider Lab”) is a limited program in which the Participant (“Participant” or “You” or “Your”) will submit responses to either a survey or an interview with the Chicago Transit Authority (“CTA”) or CTA representative related to CTA’s services or product features. Eligible Participants are expected to participate in projects where You will be required to test various aspects of the CTA transit system, including tools that people use to ride the transit system, before responding to questions in an interview or survey.
2. Eligibility. CTA Rider Lab (“Rider Lab”) is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and District of Columbia (“D.C.”), 18 years of age and older (19 and older if a resident of Alabama or Nebraska). Employees, directors, clients, contractors, agents and representatives and officers of CTA, and members of their immediate families (defined as including spouse, domestic partner, biological, adoptive and step- parents, grandparents, siblings, children and grandchildren, and each of their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) or households (whether related or not) are not eligible to participate or receive an Incentive in the Rider Lab. Non-eligibility or non-compliance with any of these Terms and Conditions will result in disqualification. Participation in the Rider Lab is void where prohibited by law.
3. Participation Period. Eligible Participants may participate in the Rider Lab by responding to a Rider Lab email or invitation soliciting participation. The Participation Period will be stated in such email or invitation, which may include Your active participation in (1) the testing of a CTA service or product prior to any subsequent interview or survey and/or (2) responses in an interview or survey in relation to a given CTA service or product (the “Participation Period”). Your Participation Period in any given Rider Lab project ends upon the completion of the interview or survey; provided if the Rider Lab email selecting You for any given project permits CTA, or a CTA representative, to follow-up on Your submitted responses to an interview or survey, then the Participation Period ends upon the completion of any follow-up questions.
4. How to Participate. Participation in the Rider Lab or a Rider Lab project, including interviews or surveys, is subject to (1) the availability of CTA services or products the Rider Lab will test, and (2) the selection process of participants and testing group size for any given project.
(A) If the Rider Lab determines that You are eligible to participate, You may be required to respond to a preliminary questionnaire as part of the selection process for any project. If a preliminary questionnaire is required, You will be provided with instructions of how to complete the questionnaire via the internet on Your own device within a specified period. If You are selected to test one of CTA’s services or products, You will receive additional instructions and any required materials (as solely determined by the Rider Lab) to use during the Participation Period. CTA reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine the selection or eligibility of participants for any given project. You are not guaranteed to be selected or determined eligible for any given Rider Lab project solely by Your response to a Rider Lab email or invitation soliciting participation in Rider Lab.
5. Incentive. If You respond to a Rider Lab email or invitation soliciting Your participation, and then successfully complete the project that Rider Lab selected Your participation in, You may be entitled to receive a gift card with a value ranging between USD $25 and USD $150 (“Incentive”). Please refer to the Rider Lab email or invitation for eligibility to receive an Incentive, including the amount, for any given project.
6. Condition to Receive Incentive. The Incentive eligible interview or survey in which You participate is intended to last up to 60 minutes, during which time You will be required to answer a number of questions related to CTA’s services or product features. You must complete the full survey or interview with CTA or a CTA representative in order to receive the Incentive. Incomplete interview or survey responses or those that do not adhere to these Terms and Conditions will not be entitled to the Incentive at CTA’s sole discretion. No substitution or transfer of an Incentive is permitted, except as otherwise provided herein or by law. ALL FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL INCOME TAXES ON INCENTIVES ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOU.
7. How to Claim the Incentive. Within seven (7) business days of completion of the interview or survey, Rider Lab will send to the email You provided to Rider Lab a method by which You can claim the Incentive. In its sole discretion, Rider Lab may provide You with an alternative method of delivery on a case-by-case basis. Rider Lab is not responsible for any inability to access the interview or survey or claim the Incentive due to difficulty accessing the internet, service outage or delays, computer difficulties and other technological problems. The Incentive must be redeemed within the period stated in the email instructions for claiming Your Incentive. The actual validity of the Incentive may differ based on the terms of the merchant issuing the Incentive. Please review https://www.perfectgift.com/terms-of-service for complete terms and conditions.
8. Conditions and Code of Conduct for Participation. By participating in Rider Lab, You represent and warrant (i) to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations; (ii) that any answers You provide or submit do not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other party, (iii) Your participation will not violate any privacy or publicity or other proprietary rights of any person or entity; (iv) that Your answers will not contain any obscene, offensive, libelous, disparaging, infringing, or other inappropriate content or subject matter; and (v) that You will keep your participation in Rider Lab and any of its projects and interview or survey questions and all other aspects of Rider Lab confidential.
9. Collection and Use of Your Information and Responses. In the course of the Participation Period, You may submit information (including your personal data, survey or interview responses and the personal data of others) to CTA or a CTA representative. Rider Lab will collect and use the information You provide as stated in these Terms and Conditions.
10. Ownership and Confidentiality. All content and materials used in Rider Lab, including interviews and surveys are subject to intellectual property rights owned or licensed by CTA. You do not obtain any intellectual property rights to the questions asked in any interview, survey or questionnaire as part of Your participation in Rider Lab. You acknowledge that such content and materials are confidential. You may access them for the sole purpose of responding to them. You agree to keep them in strict confidence and to not disclose their content to any third party, except if required by law.
11. Specific Content. Any given Rider Lab project may have additional rules, guidelines, user agreements or other terms and conditions that apply to Your participation or access to content and materials. If there is a conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the rules, guidelines, user agreements or other terms and conditions, these Terms and Conditions shall have precedence with respect to your participation in such a project.
12. Privacy Policy. You acknowledge that any information Rider Lab collects from Your participation in Rider Lab, including information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate You or a particular person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify You or a particular person (“Personally Identifiable Information”) shall be subject to CTA’s privacy policy located at https://www.transitchicago.com/privacy/. You acknowledge that any information, including Your personally identifiable information, collected by Rider Lab from Your participation in testing a Ventra product or product features, shall also be subject to Ventra’s privacy policy located at https://www.ventrachicago.com/privacy-policy/.
13. Additional Terms. No transfer, assignment or substitution of the Incentive shall be made for cash or any other incentive, except by CTA, who reserves the right to substitute the Incentive with another incentive of comparable or greater value for any reason as determined by CTA in its sole discretion. CTA is not responsible and will not replace it if any Incentive is lost, stolen, destroyed, or used without permission. All Incentive recipients are responsible for all federal, state and local taxes arising from receipt, acceptance or use of the Incentive, and CTA will not be responsible for any tax deductions which may be necessary and CTA reserves the right to withhold taxes as required by law. All Incentives must be accepted “as is,” and no warranties will be provided by CTA. Receipt of the Incentive is conditioned upon compliance with any and all federal, state, local laws and regulations, and the terms stated herein.
14. General Conditions and Release. Your answers or submissions must not disclose any confidential information, trade secrets, patentable subject matter, any account information or other personal data at any stage of Your participation in Rider Lab. By participating in Rider Lab, You (a) release, discharge and hold harmless CTA, and its respective directors, officers, agents and employees (collectively the “Released Parties”) from any and all liability for any claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages of any kind arising out of Your participation in Rider Lab or related activities, interviews and surveys, and the acceptance of any Incentive awarded hereunder, including any violation of these Terms and Conditions and the unauthorized or illegal access to personally identifiable or sensitive information or the acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of Incentives; and (b) acknowledge that Released Parties have neither made nor are in any manner responsible or liable for any product liability, warranty, representation or guarantee, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, related to the Incentives including, but not limited to, its performance, or availability. Neither the Released Parties nor any service providers of the Released Parties are responsible for lost, incomplete, illegible, late, damaged, inaccurate, misdirected, garbled, or undelivered submissions or email; miscommunications, failed computer hardware or software or technical failures; printing, typographical or other errors appearing within the Terms and Conditions, in any Rider Lab related announcement or other materials; or other errors or problems of any kind relating to or in connection with Rider Lab, including, without limitation, errors or problems which may occur in connection with the administration of Rider Lab and its related activities whether related to scheduling, the processing of interviews, surveys or questionnaires, mail or e-mail, or any injury or damage to You or any other persons’ computers or equipment related to or resulting from participation, or uploading or downloading of any materials related to Rider Lab. Any materials provided to participants by CTA is solely to facilitate participation in Rider Lab on an “as is” basis without warranties of any kind.
ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY TAMPER WITH RIDER LAB AND ITS ACTIVITIES OR PROJECTS OR OTHERWISE UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF RIDER LAB OR TO DEFRAUD CTA IN ANY WAY MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, CTA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM PARTICIPATION IN RIDER LAB AND SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH ATTEMPT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
CTA’S failure to enforce any of these Terms and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such term or provision. If for any reason a given Rider Lab interview or survey is not capable of being executed as planned due to tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes, which in the opinion of CTA, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of participation in Rider Lab, CTA reserves the right at its sole discretion to void content submitted on Your behalf and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the given Rider Lab project (or any portion thereof) for any reason. In the event of any cancellation, termination or suspension, You will be notified thereof and no Incentive will be distributed unless otherwise determined by CTA in its sole discretion.
15. Termination of Use. Rider Lab may, in its sole discretion, at any time discontinue providing or limit access to Your participation in Rider Lab. You agree that CTA shall not be liable to You or any third party for any termination or limitation of Your access to or participation in Rider lab.
16. Governing Law. Any and all disputed claims and/or causes of action arising out of or connected with Rider Lab or any Incentive or these Terms and Conditions shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action or other forms of collective litigation, exclusively by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois or the appropriate Illinois State Court if the federal court lacks jurisdiction. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Terms and Conditions, or the rights and obligations of the participants and CTA in connection with Rider Lab, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of Illinois or any other jurisdiction) which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Illinois. Any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including but not limited to costs associated with Your participation in Rider Lab, but in no event attorneys’ fees. To the extent allowed by applicable law, under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and/or consequential damages and/or any other damages, other than out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
17. Severability. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is determined to be unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be severed and the remainder of these Terms and Conditions will remain in full effect.
18. Independent Contractors. The relationship between You and CTA is that of independent contractors, and not legal partners, employees, or agents of each other.
19. Unsubscribe. If you would like to be taken off CTA’s mailing list, please contact CTA at the address listed below or by following the instructions in a Rider Lab email.
20. Sponsor. Rider Lab is a program solely developed and created by CTA, 567 W Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60661. Any questions or complaints regarding Rider Lab must be directed to CTA only.
21. Changes to these Terms and Conditions. Rider Lab may change these Terms and Conditions at any time for a variety of reasons, such as to reflect changes in applicable law or updates to the Rider Lab program, and to account for new features or functionality. The most current version will always be posted on our website. If an amendment is material, as determined in CTA’s sole discretion, then You will be notified by email. Changes will be effective no sooner than the day they are publicly posted. In order for certain changes to become effective, applicable law may require Rider Lab to provide You with sufficient advance notice of them. If You do not want to agree to any changes made to the Terms and Conditions, You should stop participating in Rider Lab. By continuing to participate in Rider Lab You indicate Your agreement to be bound by the updated Terms and Conditions.