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Posted: Saturday, 13 June 2009 8:41AM
Metra to offer credit card options for some passes
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CHICAGO, Ill. (STNG) -- Metra customers will be able to buy their monthly passes or ten-ride tickets online and pay with a credit card starting in September, Metra officials announced Friday.
Customers will be able to use credit cards at stations with ticket agents and at machines at 14 Metra Electric stations starting in February of next year.
The move to credit cards came after state Sen. Michael Bond (D-Grayslake) introduced legislation in March that would require Metra to start accepting plastic.
The move comes at a high price for Metra — the cost of operating the system and transaction fees is expected to be $3 million to $5 million a year, assuming a 75 percent participation rate, along with $2.2 million in up-front capital costs for Metra to accept credit cards online and install credit card machines and other equipment. Metra had resisted credit cards in the past because of the cost.
“I assume the state legislature didn’t look at what the costs might be,” noted Metra Board member Michael K. Smith.
Board member Jack Schaffer quipped that unfunded mandates from Springfield are “a tradition.”
Another wrinkle is that 40 percent of Metra customers use “transit checks” obtained through their employers to pay for their Metra passes. A transit check represents money set aside tax-free by workers to use for commuting. Those customers will not be able to use credit cards with their transit checks.
Metra is working with the RTA for a solution that would allow transit check money to be used with credit cards, according to Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet.
Also today, Metra officials announced that customers will start seeing uniformed federal air marshals on board Metra trains sometime before July 3, as part of the nation’s precautions against terror attacks. The marshals have already been seen on Metra trains during the busy July 3 commuting day, and during President Obama’s Grant Park election rally.
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Copyright 2009 STNG Wire, The Chicago Sun-Times. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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