Ticket Agent Dropped at Lake Bluff Metra Station

LAKE BLUFF, IL - The Lake Bluff Metra station will soon be without a ticket agent.

The Union Pacific railroad will discontinue the use of a ticket agent at its Lake Bluff station in the 600 block of North Sheridan Road beginning on Friday, Dec. 9, Metra announced Wednesday.

The decision to eliminate staffing at the station is due to declining sales and “the railroad’s ongoing effort to align resources with demand,” according to a news release.

While the station still boards about 600 passengers every weekday, the 271 tickets purchased at the station in October was the lowest number sold at any staffed station on the railroad’s North line.

“Technology is changing the way our customers buy tickets,” said Metra Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno. “About 25 percent of all Metra tickets are now sold electronically through the Ventra App, and we expect that trend to continue to grow in the years to come.”

Customers will still be able to purchase tickets from a conductor on board the train for no extra cost and will still have access to the station facility.

The on-site ticket agent at the Hubbard Woods station on the North line in Winnetka was among several others Metra has eliminated in recent months.

Patch file photo / Tim Moran