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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

LNahid2000 said:
The point is that I shouldn't have to have another $20 charged to my credit card, when I already have the appropriate fare on my card, because their system doesn't work in an intuitive way.
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That's exactly the point. In effect, they want you to pay a "membership fee" for the pleasure of their entertainment, as they send you running around trying to cover a shortcoming that's theirs, not yours.
 
LNahid2000 said:
Related to this, another thing that bothers me with Presto is that if I'm transferring from a GO Train to a GO Bus, I need to have at least two base fares ($10.60) on my card, even if my total fare will be way lower than that. I once took a GO Train to Bramalea GO and then transferred to a GO Bus to get to Trinity Common. The fare was around $7 and I had $10 on my card, but when I tapped on the GO bus, it said I didn't have enough money for my trip. Not intuitive at all.

I had to beg the bus driver to let me on since I didn't have any cash on me. I stopped taking the GO Bus after that, and just use local transit instead if I need to travel somewhere not near the GO station.
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Why do they require a $5.30 minimum balance? Is this for TTC as well?
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Why do they require a $5.30 minimum balance? Is this for TTC as well?
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I'm not sure why, but GO Transit will refuse your Presto card if it has less than the base fare on it. It will allow you to go into the negative as long as you have $5.30 though. This isn't true with any other transit system I've used Presto on. They will let you go into the negative as long as you have a cent on there.
 
The premise for GO is that you have the capacity to cheat them every time you get on one of their vehicles. Is it possible to do that? Yes it is, there's *no benefit of doubt* based on your prior allegiance to them. You're a potential crook!

So every 'trip' (every time you tap on and off, and back on again) you are charged the minimum fare for a trip as if it's a new one, and only when you do your final tap-off do you get what's owed to you back. (and even that is delayed for hours often, so you don't see the credit until next transaction) That, among other factors, makes following your Presto accounting very difficult at times, since you are accorded different levels of credit for each stage of the trip.

Since the computation for your *continuing trip* is often cheaper than the minimum necessary to tap-on twice (or more), you are required to cache more than the cost of your overall trip.

There is an option to get around this, but it costs you more since you don't get the (approx) 10% discount by using your Presto Card to do it: You buy a paper ticket on your Presto Card (or cash) that is to your final destination.

Due to glitches that *still* haven't been fixed after years of my putting in complaint after complaint (each time I'm assured it will be fixed, it never is), I now just buy a paper ticket if I wish to avoid the glitches of tapping off and back on again in various locales.

Fuk them! It's worth that 10% extra to me to not have to bow to their Almighty Apparatus and grovel to the Great God of GO and just flash my stupid piece of paper at them as I smirk.

You shouldn't have to do that...but you do. Until they fix it. ((....sound of crickets chirping...))
 
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The problem with their system is that you can still cheat them. Have at least $5.30 on your Presto card, travel to Niagara Falls, throw away said Presto card and you still come out ahead! I'm not advising anyone of doing that; I just find it interesting how easy it is to find flaws in their system.
 
LNahid2000 said:
The problem with their system is that you can still cheat them. Have at least $5.30 on your Presto card, travel to Niagara Falls, throw away said Presto card and you still come out ahead! I'm not advising anyone of doing that; I just find it interesting how easy it is to find flaws in their system.
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Indeed...it's like locking the front door which keeps out honest people while the crooks still come in the back one. However, when you toss a Presto Card, you also toss the $7 (?) you pay for the initial purchase of the card.

I can hear a song in the back of my head...lol...
I Can Never Go Home Anymore
The Shangri-Las

I guess they figure you only cheat them once.
 
steveintoronto said:
Indeed...it's like locking the front door which keeps out honest people while the crooks still come in the back one. However, when you toss a Presto Card, you also toss the $7 (?) you pay for the initial purchase of the card.
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Yes, you toss the $6, however the one-way fare for the seasonal train to Niagara is $18+ so you'd still come out ahead if you tossed a card every time.
 
LNahid2000 said:
Yes, you toss the $6, however the one-way fare for the seasonal train to Niagara is $18+ so you'd still come out ahead if you tossed a card every time.
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lol...all those green things going over the Falls that I thought were vegetation? Presto Cards! Canadian wetbacks swimming across the river to work in the US throw them away as it would indicate them being Cdn...eh!

But we old folks are stuck here! Damn, just did the math, at $6 per initial purchase, plus the $5.30 min tap-on (remember, the concession is only given back to you when you tap-off) I'd lose at my fare being $9.

That proves it, swimming across the Niagara River is a young man's game...
 
Kitsune said:
I put money on my presto card last Wednesday.... and just got the confirmation email today saying itll take another 24 hours. Thats a tad bit ridiculous time delay.
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You're really lucky you didn't get stranded. I occasionally travel to Mississauga overnight. The day before I leave back for Toronto I add $15 to my Presto card online to ensure I have sufficient fare to the GO Bus trip back to Toronto. I board at one of the street stops, so there's no other way for me to load money on my card, other than going out of my way to find the GO bus terminal. I'd be beyond pissed if the money wasn't deposited into my Presto within 24 hours, leaving me stranded until I could get to a Presto kiosk to reload.
 
DonValleyRainbow said:
Does anyone have any information on the Presto rollout on buses? Routes out of Mt Dennis and Malvern garages were up next after they hit the halfway point, but I haven't heard about any progress.
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I was wondering the same but suspect that because of the very large number of failures they are going slow until they work out what's going on. At least that's what they would do if they were sensible .....
 
DonValleyRainbow said:
Does anyone have any information on the Presto rollout on buses? Routes out of Mt Dennis and Malvern garages were up next after they hit the halfway point, but I haven't heard about any progress.
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Looks like installation has started at Birchmount. I assume Eglinton has as well.
 
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