They are adding email alerts and some other useful stuff. Might be worth checking out.:

www.metrarail.com

Metra may be the way to really fly but that google map on the website is slooooooooooooow....................

There's been some discussion on Metra in the Chicago press regarding how their practices are stuck in the 1950s. Paper tickets, payment by cash or check only, conductors with hand punches, no online ticket purchases, etc. One thing I noticed immediately was that AM / PM is not very clear as you scroll across the results of the custom schedule feature.

Pretty much every commuter rail system in the U-S uses paper tickets, as does Amtrak. (Of course, monthly passes aren't really "paper tickets" anyhow.)

Also, Metra sells monthly and 10-ride tickets online (where you can pay with a credit card, BTW). I don't really get the comment about hand punches? I guess a conductor could just rip the ticket in half...but it seems like an odd thing to criticize. Bottom line, I don't think Metra is particularly behind the curve when it comes to commuter rail ticketing technology. I mean, you may as well say that since trains were invented in the 1800's, the entire Metra system is "stuck in the 19th Century".

I mean, there are definitely ways to incorporate new technology. You could purchase a ticket on your cell phone, and have the conductor scan it. I guess that would be "better", and I suppose ultimately that will be an option. But I don't actually see much wrong with the current system.

How hard would it be to have machines that sell tickets? I am an infrequent rider (live in Lakeview), so I don't have a monthly or a 10 ride. I got to NW station 10 minutes before a perfect express run for me, but had to wait 15 minutes in line to get a damned ticket.

For people like me who use the pre-tax metra commuter check. We still require purchase the tickets at the station. I guess one big improvement in the new metra website is the service advisory now is in the front page rather than having to click 5 different places in order to find out my train is delayed.

I assume you know you can buy a ticket from a conductor for a $2 fee (which they waive for me on the Electric Line if the machines are broken, [which they often are and there's no human ticket seller here], so I bet they would if you told them the line was too long).

Unless things are different on your Line.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with the system, I was just making observations. I took the Metra every day for about 15 years up until 5 years ago. The credit card transactions must fairly new. I used to do the ticket-by-mail option and it required me to send a personal check in to pay. No credit card options. The ticket punches weren't primarily for cancelling tickets, but rather buying tickets on board. The conductors could punch a ticket in two seconds that recorded beginning zone, ending zone, fare type, dollars and cents. On the milk runs the conductors keep track of who paid by colored paper scraps at your seats. On the late nights runs they would sometimes perform a wake up service if you asked them to. If you forgot your ticket and the conductor knew you had a monthly, he'd let you slide. I agree nothing wrong with the system and I enjoyed it, but certainly doing business the exact same way they did it 50 years ago. Quite a bit different than Chicago's CTA system which I wouldn't classify as progressive, and certainly different than taking the Heathrow Express where I just present my iPhone with the bar code to the ticket agent.

Yeah, true, I was being cheap Not sure if they'd waive it or not (UP-N line). No charge at stations without a person working, but there's obviously someone at NW station.