When the Sun-Times reported on Metra’s fare structure overhaul last week, it covered the fare changes in detail, but gave short shrift to the impact of another big change: Ticketing windows being closed down.
Metra, it was reported, will give “some” of the ticketing agents jobs as customer representatives, but only at the downtown stations. The probable loss of jobs is one story. Yet, there is another story here — the story of how the replacement of human agents with vending machines will affect the customers. I’m not just talking about buying tickets, but the loss of another point of human contact for the sake of efficiency.
