Paper Tokens Coming to Mokena Metra Lots

• Correction: Paper tokens will not be available until October. This article originally misstated the date of their availability.

The Village of Mokena will roll out a new payment option for Metra commuters after July 1: the use of prepaid, single-use "tokens" made of card stock. The option was reviewed during a work session Monday night after the regular village board meeting.

The use of tokens is part of a larger plan to improve Mokena Metra lots that includes replacing old pay boxes, installing additional security cameras at the Hickory Creek lot and a 25-cent increase in parking fees (from $1 to $1.25 a day).

According to village administrators, the fee increase is needed because expenditures in the parking lot fund have exceeded revenues for the past five years. Administrators expect that increasing the fee by 25 cents will cause revenues to exceed expenditures as early as next year. Village Administrator John Downs has said the fares have not been increased since the mid-1980s.

Assistant Village Administrator Kirk Zoellner said the improvements will begin after July 1, but the fees would not go up until October. The tokens will also become available in October.