CHICAGO —Metra will close its remaining ticket windows in conjunction with the upcoming revision of its fare structure, the commuter operator has announced.
Ticket windows at outlying stations on the BNSF line will close next Monday, Jan. 8; all other ticket windows, including at downtown stations, will close effective Feb. 1, when the new, simplified four-zone fare system takes effect [see “Metra approves 2024 budget with simplified fare structure,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 11, 2023]. Some of the ticket agents will be repurposed as customer service representatives. Tickets continue to be sold at on the Ventra app, and on trains by conductors; new ticket vending machines at major stations, and vending machine installations will continue, with the goal of having them at every station this year.
More details on the ticket-window closures and other upcoming changes related to the fare structure are available here.
Elimination of staff ticketing machines will not eliminate the need for cash delivery or vault services as as the TVM machines will still need to be serviced and accounted for! However this does effectively eliminate dozens of Stations Agent jobs unfortunately! Eventually validator machines will eliminate the need for ticket collectors with the cost being increased fare evasion
Metra customers, since the iPhone/Android phones came out have been requesting e-Ticketing/cashless fares for years. So this is in effect, doing exactly what frequent riders have been asking for.
In fact, when Ventra came out,riders first words were, “why did it take so long?”.
Metra has been phasing out staffed ticket windows for some 15-20 years, so this is really a service improvement, not a reduction. No more cash management services (like Brinks trucks making cash deliveries), no more bounced or check fraud to cover.
Even the employer based tax deduction/transit program is electronic now, where before they would cut you a check and you took it to the station window to get a monthly pass.
At one point I would say cutting out the humans was cheapness, now its just more cost effective and more consistent throughout the system.
ISTHA is doing the same thing by eliminating the cash toll buckets.
It’s one of the reasons public transit is only used by those who have to, lack of customer service.
Ridiculous. No need whatsoever to cut out human beings, except cheapness…