Save time with Ventra Mobile Ticket app.
This app won’t save you money but it will save you time. For anyone who’s waited in line to buy a ticket at Union or Ogilvie Stations at rush hour or on a Saturday can now use the app to skip the enormous lines. This app has been out since November, 2015.
The Ventra app allows you to perform the same functions for the CTA as the desktop version including managing your Ventra account, reloading your card and buying passes. It aslo has a transit tracker. The difference is the app allows you to buy Metra tickets including single ride, 10 ride, weekend and monthly passes. No more waiting in the ridiculous Metra ticket lines.
The whole process of using the app to buy a Metra ticket through my existing Ventra account took 3 minutes. See the series of screen shots for the process below. It’s straightforward except toward the end you have to re-enter your Ventra password. For those of us who are password challenged you can select that you not be asked for a password again.
Where the app is lacking is you still cannot use your smartphones as a virtual Ventra card. No word on when that feature will become available.
Once on the train your should have the app open so the conductor can scan your ticket. For the password challenged it’s a little nerve-racking to make sure the app hasn’t logged out.
Overall it’s a win because now I can leave for the train station 30 minutes later at rush hour or on Saturdays.
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