[8] The contract was structured such that Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) was able to implement the system with no upfront costs.

[10] Metra was offered the opportunity to participate in the Ventra program during meetings with the CTA, but the commuter railroad initially declined.

[18] The final transition to Ventra was postponed indefinitely in early November, from the original December 15, 2013, date, due to the persistent issues with the roll out.

[18] In early 2014, CTA and Pace both announced plans to resume the final rollout, with a full transition to Ventra expected by July 2014.

The difference is the app allows customers to buy Metra tickets including single ride, ten-ride, weekend and monthly passes.

There is also a "Transit Tracker" feature that enables customers to view schedules and arrival times for Metra, CTA and Pace.

[23] Two months after the Ventra app's launch in late January 2016, Metra customers had taken more than 1 million rides using mobile tickets.

[23] According to the CTA, the Ventra app has been well-received, based on customer feedback and its increasing number of downloads.