Metra will stop having agents in the booth at the downtown Lake Forest station as of the end of business July 26, commuter rail agency officials announced, citing a decline in onsite sales.
Approximately 47% of Metra riders now get their tickets through the Ventra app, Metra officials said in a news release.
The Lake Forest station – located at 691 N. Western Avenue – sold an average of 1,049 tickets per month in 2019, which was one of the lower number of sales for staffed stations, according to Metra.
The station is part of the Union Pacific-North line and, at one point, served roughly 750 riders each weekday, according to the release. Metra officials noted that public transportation use has fallen dramatically since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic last year.
While the Lake Forest station ticket office will no longer be staffed, the public will continue to have access to the station. Riders will be able to purchase a one-way ticket from the conductor on the train at no extra cost or through the Ventra app, according to the release.
Also, tickets will be available for purchase at Oglivie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, either from an agent or vending machines. However, anyone who boards the commuter train at OTC without purchasing a ticket there in advance is subject to a $5 surcharge when a ticket is purchased on the train from the conductor, the release states.
Lake Forest will now be one of several stops on the UP-N line where live agents are not available. Lake Bluff, Fort Sheridan, Highwood, Ravinia, Braeside, Glencoe, Hubbard Woods, Winnetka, Indian Hill, Kenilworth, and Evanston’s Central and Main Street stations do not have them.
Metra spokesman Michael Gillis told Pioneer Press in an email that the UP-N line stations at Waukegan, Wilmette, Highland Park and Evanston’s Davis Street will continue to be staffed and there are no immediate plans to end ticket sales at those stops.
The changes arrive as Metra introduced a pilot schedule on the UP-N line (plus two other lines) earlier this month.
“We expect ridership to continue to increase as the summer progresses and will continue to monitor conditions and make schedule adjustments that are responsive to our customers’ needs,” Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski said in a news release.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer.
