Ventra

Metra Mobile Tickets

It’s easy to buy and use Metra tickets right in the Ventra app, so you can skip waiting in lines at the ticket window or paying cash on the train.

Mobile tickets are displayed on your device’s screen—just show your ticket to the Metra conductor.

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How it works

It’s as easy as 1-2-3:

  1. Buy a Metra mobile ticket in the Ventra app.
  2. Activate (use) your ticket when you board your train.
  3. Show it to the conductor when asked and tap the screen.

Multiple visible and interactive security features are built into Metra mobile tickets so conductors can easily tell that a ticket is valid and authentic. Conductors may ask to look more closely at your ticket for these indicators, including asking you to tap different parts of the ticket to help prove it’s real.

Important: Be sure your phone or device has enough charge for your trip before you travel. If your phone shuts off from lack of battery power, you’ll need to buy a ticket on board for your ride.

Tips

Here are some tips for using Metra mobile tickets:

  • Buy your ticket before you head to the train. This way, you can be sure you’ve got a ticket to use when you get to the train, even if you’re boarding in a place where your mobile carrier doesn’t offer a good signal.
  • Activate your ticket right after you board. When you choose to activate/use a ticket for a single ride, it’s immediately active and will be valid only for the length of your ride, so do this only once you're on the train. Tickets good for a period of time, such as Weekend or Monthly passes, will remain active through the end of the period for which they’re valid, once activated.

Available for purchase

All regular Metra tickets are available for purchase in the app, including Full Fare and Reduced Fare tickets. Full Fare riders, for example, can choose from:

  • One-Way Tickets: Good for a single Metra ride.
  • Day Passes: Good for unlimited rides all day between your selected zones.
  • Day Pass 5-Pack: Five Day Passes that can be used for unlimited rides between your selected zones on any five days within a 90-day period.
  • Monthly Passes: Good for a specific calendar month, up through noon on the first business day of the next month, when many people buy their monthly tickets.
  • Saturday/Sunday/Holiday Day Passes: Good for unlimited rides on Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
  • Weekend Passes: Good for unlimited Saturday and Sunday travel for one person on a single calendar weekend.
  • Regional Connect Pass: Good for unlimited rides on CTA and Pace during the same calendar month. Must be purchased in conjunction with a Metra Monthly Pass and must have a Ventra Card registered in the app.

Additional, special tickets will appear sometimes, such as a holiday tickets, event/destination-related tickets and more.

About Reduced Fare tickets

Senior citizens 65 or older, customers with disabilities and Medicare cardholders who have an RTA-issued Reduced Fare Permit, and low-income customers enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) with an RTA-issued Access permit, are eligible for a reduced fare ticket.

Full time students enrolled in a grade school or high school and active military personnel can also purchase Reduced Fare tickets.

To use a Reduced Fare ticket, you’ll need to present proper identification to prove you’re eligible. If you don’t have your permit or proper ID, you’ll need to buy a Full Fare ticket instead.

Paying for tickets

You can use the following payment methods in the Ventra app when buying a Metra mobile ticket:

  • Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express credit or debit cards.
  • Ventra transit value, money loaded into your registered Ventra Card’s account.
  • Apple Pay or Google Pay for in-app payments using your phone’s built-in payment features.

In the new Ventra app, if you’ve bought tickets before, your most recently purchased tickets will appear.

Learn more about ways to pay in the app.

Regional Connect Pass

The Regional Connect Pass gives you unlimited rides on CTA and Pace all month long. You can use the Ventra app to buy the Regional Connect Pass in addition to your Metra mobile Monthly Pass. You’ll need to have a Ventra card and make the purchase within the Ventra app.
 
Follow these steps:

  • If you don’t have a Ventra card yet, buy one online, from any Ventra vending machine at a CTA rail station or from more than 800 Ventra retail locations. The cost of a new card is $5, refunded to you as Ventra transit value when you register your card within 90 days of purchase. (You can apply this value toward the purchase of a pass, rides on CTA or Pace, or even toward the purchase of a Metra mobile ticket in the Ventra app.)
  • Next, register your new Ventra card in your Ventra account, or create a Ventra account in the Ventra app and register the card.
  • Once you have a Ventra card registered with your Ventra account, you’re ready to buy a Regional Connect Pass. First, buy a Metra mobile Monthly Pass.
  • Once you complete that process, the new Monthly Pass will appear in the "Tickets" section (select "Tickets" in the bottom right corner of the home screen).
  • At the bottom of the Tickets page is a prompt for you to “Add a Regional Connect Pass.” Click on the link and you’ll be asked to select the Ventra card you want to use for that pass.
  • Next, select “Checkout.” You’ll be asked to select your payment method. The options will include any credit or debit cards (including pre-tax transit benefits debit cards) or Ventra transit value affiliated with your Ventra account. You can even choose to split the payment between two cards.

Once you’ve paid, your Ventra card will be loaded with the pass. Use it to pay your fare anytime when boarding CTA buses or trains or Pace buses.
 
Regional Connect Passes are good for unlimited rides on the CTA and on Pace all day, anytime for the entire month; there are no day or time restrictions. 
 
The Regional Connect Pass replaced the Metra Link Up and Pace PlusBus passes on June 20, 2022.
 
Need to get a Ventra Card? You can buy new Ventra Cards online, at any Ventra Vending Machine or at more than 800 Ventra retail locations. The cost of a new card is $5, but this is refunded to you as Ventra transit value when you register within 90 days. Learn more about how to get one.

Where are my Metra tickets?

If you don’t see the tickets you expect, this might be because you have logged into a new device and your tickets are associated with a different device that's been logged into your account.

Don’t worry! It’s easy to bring your tickets over.

Moving tickets to your device from another with the new Ventra app

When you buy a Metra mobile ticket with the new Ventra app, it's stored on our servers but will only appear on the device you used to buy it. This makes it easier for people who share an account so people don't mix up whose tickets are whose.

New: You can now move tickets from another/previous device on your account to yours from right inside the app!

Here’s how:

  1. Open the Metra tickets section of the app on your destination (“to”) device and select Move tickets to this device from the links at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Select which tickets you'd like to move.
  3. Press Continue and confirm your selection.

Your imported tickets should appear right away and will be ready for use immediately.

Notes

Moving tickets from one device to another

Because we’ve made it easy to move tickets from another (or past) device on your account to your own right inside the app, it’s possible your partner, spouse or other family member might inadvertently pull your tickets over to their phone.

Use the “Move tickets to this device” feature to easily bring those tickets right back to your phone from the app.

Limits on moving tickets between devices

Important: Metra Monthly Passes can only be moved from one device to another once.

If you share your account with other people, please be careful not to move tickets that aren’t yours (especially Monthly Passes) to your phone to avoid taking someone else’s pass as you might accidentally run into an issue with this Monthly Pass transfer restriction.

If you have a good reason for having had to move a Monthly Pass more than once, such as if you switched to a new phone, you’ll need to contact the Ventra Customer Service Call Center for help. Exceptions are at the discretion of Ventra and Metra Customer Service and account history may be considered when granting an exception to prevent fare fraud. Contact Ventra Customer Service at 1.877.NOW.VENTRA (1.877.669.8368).

Other unused tickets can be moved between devices on your account as much as you like until they're activated, expended or have expired.

Don't see your tickets?

See this page for advice on why you might not see the tickets you expected and how to recover ones you've purchased but haven't yet used.