CHICAGO — Starting June 20, Metra will no longer sell monthly passes or 10-ride tickets at its 15 non-downtown stations on the Electric Line.
The move comes after Metra reported losses following a series of fraudulent charges at ticket vending machines. Scammers are using stolen credit cards, officials said, causing Metra to lose “legitimate sales.”
The impacted stations have no ticket agents; customers rely solely on vending machines.
According to Metra, customers can still buy one-way tickets at the machines to get downtown. Once there, people can apply that ticket value to a monthly or 10-ride ticket bought from an agent. Monthly and 10-ride tickets can also be purchased on the Metra app.
“We are sorry we need to take this step and inconvenience our customers,” Metra CEO Jim Derwinski said in a statement, “but we hope they understand that we are trying to eliminate a practice that is costing us money.”
Metra is working to procure new machines.
