Metra is weighing changes to trip prices, as it looks to create fewer fare zones and eliminate a pandemic-era $100 monthly pass.
The proposed changes are an attempt to simplify the fare system for riders and ticket collectors, and adjust to changing rider habits that have commuters coming into the city only a few days a week, if at all. Metra hopes the new fares will grow ridership, which, on weekdays in May, was about 51% of 2019 levels.
The proposed changes call for dividing Metra lines into four fare zones, rather than the current 10, which will mean changes to one-way and day-pass prices. Ten-ride passes would be eliminated in favor of a bundle of five-day passes. Monthly passes will no longer be a flat $100, but instead would cost about the same as 20 one-way tickets.
Metra fares have traditionally been divided into zones, meaning the farther a passenger rides, the more they pay. After ridership plummeted at the start of the pandemic, Metra began testing the $100 flat-rate monthly pass and $6 and $10 daily passes.
The agency previously weighed changes to its fares as part of its 2023 budget, proposing a monthly pass equal to 16 one-way zone-based fares and day passes that cost the same as two one-way trips. But board members rejected that proposal in October, calling for fare consistency and the simplicity of fewer zones as the agency looks to continue drawing back riders.
Under the new proposal, downtown Chicago would be one zone and the area in and around the city would make up another zone, with intermediate and outlying stations in the other two zones.
Metra said none of the one-way fares would be more than current prices. All one-way tickets that do not start or end downtown would cost a flat $3.75, in an attempt to encourage trips throughout the region.
Day passes would be twice the price of a one-way fare. They will replace the current $6 and $10 day passes that Metra introduced during the pandemic. The bundle of five-day passes can be used on nonconsecutive days, and would only be available in the Ventra app.
In a significant change from pandemic-era pricing, riders will no longer be able to pay a flat $100 for a monthly pass. Prices will instead depend on the distance riders are traveling — with farther zones priced above $100 — but will remain below pre-pandemic costs, Metra said.
The $100 flat-rate monthly pass has been Metra’s single most purchased type of fare, recently making up 34% of ticket sales.
As more people have purchased the pass, Metra is bringing in less revenue per ride, Metra Chief Financial Officer John Morris said during an unrelated budget presentation to the board.
Metra will also eliminate a type of pricing called “incremental fares,” which passengers can buy onboard a train if their ticket does not cover the full length of their ride.
There will be no changes to weekend and holiday passes or a fare that allows Metra monthly pass-holders to also ride on Pace and CTA.
Metra staff weighed eliminating zones entirely and instead charging a flat fare, but found that the price would either be so high that it would drive away ridership from closer-in zones, or so low that it would generate budget problems for Metra.
Rather, the monthly pass priced at about the cost of 20 one-way trips is intended to appeal to commuters heading into the office only a few days a week, said Metra’s senior manager of operations planning and analysis, Dan Miodonski. In some cases, it could incentivize commuters to make an extra trip downtown, he said.
Metra staff will solicit feedback in the coming months from the public on the proposed changes and conduct further analysis, before a final proposal is sent to the board for approval.
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
