Metra tests café cars could lure more riders back
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Courtesy of Metra
Metra is considering the idea of new café cars, but it's unclear whether they'll serve alcohol like the old bar cars once did.
Why it matters: The move could help rebuild ridership as public transit agencies try to rebound from the pandemic-era passenger drops.
Reality check: Riders are returning. The agency reports about 35 million trips in 2024, up from nearly 32 million trips in 2023.
Yes, but: That's still less than half of the 74 million trips in 2019.
The latest: Metra teamed up with Active Transportation Alliance last month for a "commuter coffee rave" at the LaSalle Street Station. The experience was a prototype of what a café car would look like, featuring seats around small tables and countertops with stools.
Flashback: In 2008, Metra was still operating 10 trains with bar cars, which one rider affectionately referred to as "happy hour on the rails," the Tribune reported.
- But Metra closed the bar cars that year because "they weren't worth the revenue they produced and we needed the room on the cars," spokesperson Michael Gillis tells Axios.
- Gillis notes that 2008 was Metra's peak year for ridership.
Meanwhile, drinking is still allowed on the train. You just have to grab your Old Style tallboy or mini Jim Beam before you hop on.
What's next: "We will probably rotate the [café car] prototype from line to line or from downtown station to downtown station to let riders see it and give us their input, but we don't yet have a schedule," Gillis says.
- "No decisions have been made yet about whether to move forward with the idea, how many we would create, or which lines or trains would get them."
The bottom line: Gillis adds that Metra doesn't know if alcohol would be served if the café cars do open.