Can you use your ventra card on the Metra? (Chicago: flat fee, 2015)

[glass_of_merlot]

Can you use your ventra card on the Metra yet? If so, do I just hand the card to the guy collecting "tickets"?

Thanks

[oakparkdude]

No.

[Freefall18]

No, that would be too simple

[MSchemist80]

No that would be too efficient and convenient. Metra is still stuck in the 20th century with paper punch tickets.

[pete6032]

No.

Metra needs to protect its employees and switching to Ventra would eliminate positions.

[chet everett]

There is allegedly a plan in progress to make this happen by January of 2015 -- Can Metra Successfully Switch to Ventra? Possible, but not Probable - Gapers Block Mechanics | Chicago

This has less to do with "protecting jobs" than dealing with a vendor that is not really competent. Metra riders have been able to buy a ticket with a credit card from automated vending machines for years. If all it took to make the Ventra card work was a smartphone with Square Reader even conductors would welcome being able to get rid of old fashioned change belts.

Ventra is a typical "conencted" political firm that is incompetent.

[MSchemist80]

One complication is Metra charges by the station rather than a flat fee like CTA and Pace. They would need some way to determine where everyone got on and off.

[kyle242]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

One complication is Metra charges by the station rather than a flat fee like CTA and Pace. They would need some way to determine where everyone got on and off.

Looks like I am reviving zombie thread

Its very simple. This works with ClipperCard on Caltrain and BART trains that have fares based on zones or distance. Caltrain is commuter rail train system like Metra and it works by having placed contactless card readers on isle platforms where you tap on before entering train and tap off in next station where you get off. No turnstiles, you just tap on reader placed on boarding plaftorm that tells you how much balance and if you are OK for travel. Minimum balance they require to travel is $1.25. You can go negative but there is a limit and you can't continue to travel until you replenish it to a positive balance. If a person forgets to tap on before getting on train, he can get citation without valid ticket and if he taps at departure but not his final station, the maximum rate deducted from cart between start and last possible station on the line remains in place.

[picardlx]

They've been promising fare integration for YEARS(if not decades). Don't believe anything you hear or plans you read; believe it when you see it. Paying with a Ventra-like card is certainly is doable. In Baltimore they/we(I guess I should say now) have random onboard fare inspectors who can check to see if passengers actually validated their smart trip card (kinda like Ventra) before they boarded the train, but we don't have zone pricing. I think if every Metra conductor had a device similar to what Baltimore uses on its light rail (to prevent free riders from boarding) in combination with the solution that Kyle242 suggests (i.e. imposing maximum fares -- if one doesn't perform an 'exit tap'), then this pay option on Metra is totally doable while also preserving the Metra conductor job.