Metra officials have announced a pilot program that will explore a dramatic change to the way fares are collected on its trains.
According to a press release Thursday, the agency will begin a pilot program on Monday, April 6 that will require passengers at select downtown stations to launch their Ventra app or to show their paper ticket to a conductor before boarding a train.
Officials say the conductors are “testing the speed, functionality and durability” of handheld devices, which will be used to scan the tickets at the doors of trains.
The agency will focus the pilot on what it calls “off-peak trains” to reduce delays at Millennium Station, Union Station and Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Unlike CTA trains that require a passenger to scan a fare card before boarding, Metra trains allow passengers to board, with conductors then walking around train cars to check tickets. That process is done visually with no scanning, but the pilot program will involve a QR code on tickets that will allow conductors to scan them, according to officials.
Passengers who usually purchase paper tickets from onboard conductors will be asked to purchase tickets from a kiosk prior to boarding the train.
The agency says the test could also help the newly formed Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which was created under a mega-transit bill by the state of Illinois to integrate operations of Metra, CTA and Pace.
The pilot will begin early next month, but no timeframe was given for how long it will remain in effect.
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