Due to declining on-site ticket sales at the Winnetka Station on the Union Pacific North Line, Union Pacific Railroad will close the station’s ticket office at the end of business on Friday, Feb. 22.
Ticket sales have declined at many Metra stations as passengers have switched to mobile purchasing. About 43 percent of Metra customers now purchase tickets via the Ventra App. Although the ticket office is closing, passengers will continue to have access to the station facilities.
The Winnetka Station sold an average of 610 tickets per month in 2018 and only 432 tickets in December. The station sells the fewest tickets of all the ticket agent-staffed locations on the entire Metra system. The station serves about 740 customers each weekday.
After Feb. 22, customers boarding at Winnetka can use cash to purchase a One-Way Ticket on board from a conductor at no extra cost. Tickets can always be purchased at any time at no extra cost through the free Ventra App, available in the App Store or Google Play. In addition, tickets will continue to be sold by agents at the nearby Wilmette, Evanston Davis Street, Evanston Central Street or Highland Park stations and all five downtown stations, including Ogilvie Transportation Center. There are also ticket vending machines available at all five downtown Chicago Metra stations.
On-site ticket sales were previously eliminated at the Clarendon Hills, Riverside, Brookfield and Stone Avenue stations on the BNSF Line; the Mokena, 111th Street/Morgan Park, 91st, 95th, 99th Street, and 103rd Street/Beverly Hills stations on the Rock Island Line; the Bensenville Station on the Milwaukee District West Line; the 57th Street Station on the Metra Electric Line; the Glencoe, Hubbard Woods, Kenilworth and Lake Bluff stations on the UP North Line; the Harvard Station on the UP Northwest Line; and the Oak Park Station on the UP West Line.