Metra
Reviews and Complaints
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Pandemic safety
On the Metra website there is a lot of self congratulations about how they are "getting us back on track" and how "safety is their priority" and how they are "practicing physical distancing." However, I'm sitting on a 4:40 pm departure from OTC that is crowded enough in my car that it is necessary for people to share seats, which isn't a good idea during a pandemic and certainly contradicts the idea of physical distancing. And I'm in the furthest open car toward the engine.
Cars further back are likely even more crowded.
Why is the train so crowded? Because they only have half of the cars open. It appears that there are 3 conductors on the train. They can't be doing this for operational efficiency, as the closed cars are being hauled along anyway.
In spite of the pandemic, it just seems to be too much work for the conductors to walk the whole train in the interest of passenger safety. So much for your focus on safety.
User's recommendation: Stay away from Metra if you want social distancing
Tampa, Florida
5:40pm train never came
I had to wait for an hour till the 6:40pm train came because the *** of metra did not announce that the 5:40 was not coming. So I had to wait.
As if I really give a *** what happened, they didn't announce anything so I waited. What ? Wait? Like everybody else well F" everybody else.
And F" metra.
Plus they Don't shut the rowdy kids up on the trains in the evening as I would if I was an officer. BAD SERVICE!!!
Preferred solution: Full refund
Chicago, Illinois
Poor schedules
I want to complain about he schedule change on the BNSF line. Why why do es the last train for belmont road leave at 6:30 Pm M-F ?
Why do hardly any trains stop at Hollywood during the non rush zoo times ? Why do people with children are now forced to walk 1 mile or more to the zoo since hardly any weekday trains stop at the zoo stop?
It is very hard with small children to do that . Metra has no concern for its riders
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Verified Reviewer
Not enough cars open.
Im currently on the 4:30 west line. For some reason not all the train cars are open.
People need to social distance. Its not like the conductor is collecting fares.
Last week all the cars were open so people can spread out. If Metra is serious about being safe please ask the conductors to open up the train a little bit more so we can feel safe.
Thank you.
- Avoids needing to drive
- Service exists
- Price keeps going up but no service improvements
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Doors does not open
Everyday I take Metra from palatine to OTC. Today the Metra doors open only first two cars.
Usually they do not open ( after pandemic). I have disability and I have to get to second car from 6th car with great difficulty.
I am not sure why? Would like to know
Preferred solution: Let us know why this happend ?
Roselle, Illinois
Train went through without stopping
My father and I were waiting to get on the train to downtown from Chicago Ridge on the Southwest service line. The train went through the station without stopping, the engineer clearly saw the both of us. The station announcement did not say it was an Express train.
Chicago, Illinois
Conductors
Conductors need to announce quiet car etiquette. I pay for monthlies and dont think I should do their job.
Northwest line Ogilvie to crystal lake. Same offenders every night when leaving Ogilvie at 6:25 pm
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Chicago, Illinois
Ride only am rush into city
Non rush hour conductors are adversarial toward customers and have NO customer service skills. I feel unsafe around them and not with the passengers.
I dont feel management has any idea the way ticket takers conduct themselves off rush.
If they do it's scary. Only ride if you have to.
Women stay away from the *** on the back of 503 UPN line
Metra,what more do you want. We are paying your $200 Monthly Fee to ride your train to be harassed by your Metra UPN conductors on 5:03PM the African American on the back of the train?
Really? Come on now, you can do better than this ***
Pure Trash!!!!!
Chicago, Illinois
Rude conductors
Most of the off peak conductors on the Rock Island line are extremely rude. Every time I ask a simple question, such as "which car stops at a certain station", I am not given an answer, just a rude, obnoxious comment. Please instruct your conductors to treat your off peak passengers with the same respect that they would treat a passeger on peak times.
Preferred solution: Deliver product or service ordered
San Francisco, California
The Napoleon Syndrome
Today was the last straw. From now on I'll be wearing a bodycam to record just how rude and inconsiderate the young short conductor with the crewcut is on the Milwaukee District West line in Elgin at 11:55am on Saturdays.
I will henceforth refer to the said conductor as, "Napoleon" since that is who he thinks he is and tries to be. Since he wants to screw with Metra customers and make life difficult for them turnabout is fair play.
The public can do the same. I will be recording and showing just what it is he does so Metra Management can also see what he is doing out I the field.
Sorry for your trouble
Chicago, Illinois
Proof That Metra Lies to Riders
Positive Train Control is just being installed on the Southwest Service line now. Even so, they've been blaming PTC for delays for months.
Attached is a screenshot from their website showing that they claimed a Southwest Service train was delayed back in April even though it wasn't installed then!
Late trains, rude conductors, overpriced fares and horrible service are what you get from Metra. With this proof, you can now add lies to that list.
- Rude conductors
- Lies
- Expensive fares
Preferred solution: Deliver product or service ordered
They should rename it to the Mechanical failure
It breaks pretty much every 2 weeks , delays from 1 to 5 hours are a common occurrence
Talking about bnsf line
- Poor service
Wheeling, Illinois
An extremely unprofessional and rude train conductor publicly insulted me for no reason today(6/11/2019) on a 5:31pm NCS line from Chicago to Antioch
An extremely unprofessional and rude train conductor publicly insulted me for no reason today(6/11/2019) on a 5:31pm NCS line from Chicago to Antioch
Here is the story goes:
I was in cart 3. when the conductor come in and check for tickets, I showed him my tickets.
He started to ask me: why are you laying down on the bench (I lay down on the bench due to sciatica problems)
I reply: I back hurts and want to get some rest on my back
he said: I don't care what happen to your back, the train are full of people and they are looking for seats, (notice that the train was already taken off for about 10 mins and everyone on the train already gotten their seats)
I looked around and still see many empty seats on the train, so I replied very politely: is there anyone looking for a seat?
and then he shouted loudly on the train: no, but you shouldn't be taken 2 seats and blalalabla,..
YOU ARE TOO SELF CENTERED AND A SELFISH PERSON!
I was out of the blue, who on earth give the right this guy to public shamed someone without any decency! This is very disturbing behavior with extremely inappropriate bias.
I was too shock for such comment and didn't really have the time to figure out what just happened, so I simply let it go and replied: thanks for saying that.
I was on my seat with shame and shock and feeling unfair for the rest of trip. I tried to figure out what just happened and why it happened, and finally, I think i need to talk this through with the conductor. So I found him again, and asked:
"Is this personal?
why do you public shamed me for that.
he said, because you were taking 2 seat and ppl had no seats
I said, if there were ppl looking for seat, why couldn't you just ask me to get up and give away the seat politely?
and he started to being defensive and reflect my question.
I continue said: there were NO ppl looking for seat as the train already took off for 10mins already and there were still many empty seat around! who do you pick on me for no reason?
he knew he had no good argument for this so he keep reflecting my question and tried to shamed me the fact that I was taken 2 seats deal with back pain problem.
So I asked him: why didn't you say a thing to ppl, many ppl, who take two seats to sleep on the train in the morning? why on earth just pick me while there were so many ppl doing the same thing? again, if I done wrong, you could have just let me know politely.
the fact that you insulted me IN THE PUBLIC with no reason is really appalling.
In the end, he knew he has no good argument for any of his behavior, so he said I don't want to argument with you and we ended our conversation.
I tried to get his name but he has NO NAME TAG on his shirt, so I was not able to get his name. But he is the same conductor on the NCS 5:31pm train very day. there won't be another guy. He's around 6 feet tall and have glasses, grey hair.
Also, I am pretty sure by job requirements, they are required to wear name tag on the train.
Look, I don't want to play the race card because I don't believe ppl are inherently racist. But the fact that he set himself off by insulted me without any proper communication in the first place is really inappropriate and disturbing. It also creates a really bad image to other passengers about Metra. I never thought of run into such rude person in my life until I met this guy.
Extremely disturbing. If this bad experience continues to haunt me mentally in the next couple weeks, I will reserve my right for legal action to Metra service if no proper response or justification is done to this guy by Metra.
extremely disturbing and I am still very shock of what just happened
- Inappropriate supervisor conductor
- Inappropriate insults and negative language used from conductor
- Unprofessional train conductor
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Chicago, Illinois
More Issues and Delays Everyday
Seems like everyday there are more issues with the Rock Island Line. The train I take frequently gets canceled because of other trains and you never get notifications until after your train is supposed to arrive not allowing you to make alternative plans.
They give you late slips, but my employer does not accept these. I have resulted in taking a train that arrives 90 minutes earlier than I need to be at work in the hopes I might arrive on time.
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Not all cars fit on every platform. This means a conductor has to be in a certain location to make sure the doors don’t open on that car.
As far as safety goes, how many cars do you feel a conductor should be responsible for? It seems like the lesser, the safer. Metra did away with almost all of their extra conductor jobs (swings) away in the name of saving money. These ticket collectors helped handle the load.
You now have each conductor handling at least three and sometimes up to five cars, collecting tickets, answering questions, and making sure cars that are hanging off of platforms don’t open. Who is to blame, the conductor or carrier?