Metra is whining that he forced them to accept credit cards.
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 today.
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.
People don’t carry cash much anymore and yes there are fees, but that should be a part of the overall fee structure. Metra could certainly give a small discount to those not using credit/debit cards (or petition for the right to do so), but whining that your agency has to enter the 21st Century almost 10 years late is one of many reasons why people get annoyed with mass transit agencies.
Yep. Left out is any calculus of increased ridership now that it’s not such a pain in the a** to buy tickets.
I would like to think that we don’t pay board members very much and so can’t expect innovative thinking, but I’m too afraid I’m wrong. What’s so ironic about all this is that Banks went through the very same process about two decades ago, going from tellers to atm’s. The focus then, though wasn’t the cost of the new system, but how no one was going to lose their job. But they did, because that’s how they justified the cost of the atm’s. Am I not surprised that they didn’t cut a better deal with a card company, hoping to become customer’s “top card” to increase the number of CC transactions and increase their take?
I use a “Transit Check” for the CTA. It’s deducted automatically by an online company. Couldn’t they have just asked over at CTA or PACE how it’s done?
Metra Board members “earn” $15,000 for a few meetings a year.
IIRC they are not allowed to earn any other government-funded salaries or stipends.