The ticket window at the Brookfield Metra Station will close on Feb. 7. After that date, Metra will no longer staff the Brookfield station with a ticket agent Metra has announced.
The ticket agent position is being eliminated through attrition, according to a Metra press release. The train station, which serves about 550 riders each weekday, will remain open.
Metra has recently moved to allow riders to purchase tickets online and with mobile devices and as it has done so, it has been eliminating ticket agents at some train stations.
Last June, Metra eliminated the ticket agent position at the Riverside Metra Station.
“As our customers have embraced new technology available to purchase their tickets, we’ve continued to look for ways to be more efficient with our limited resources,” said Metra Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno. “Eliminating on-site ticket sales at locations where sales aren’t high enough to warrant staffing is simply a good business practice.
Metra says that, in November, customers at the Brookfield station purchased 964 tickets for the entire month, the lowest total of tickets sold at all 14 stations staffed by a ticket agent on the BNSF line. The dollar value of tickets sold was $36,922, the second lowest total on the BNSF line.
After Feb. 7, riders boarding at the Brookfield station will be able to purchase a one-way ticket on the train from a conductor for no extra charge. Riders can also buy tickets at all five downtown Metra stations, online or through the new Ventra App available at the App Store or Google Play.
