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Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

Megaton327 said:
Yeah, all of that is utter nonsense. Clearly revisionist history to defend their absurd choice. Presto accepts payment on the YRT and TTC equivalents of MobilityPLUS, it can integrate the U-Pass, and it can issue machine readable paper tickets from TVMs as proven in Ottawa and coming this year in Toronto as well.
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It's not exactly revisionist. At the time when GRT and the Region of Waterloo was exploring the fare card option, in 2014, PRESTO wasn't capable of doing the things that the region wanted a fare card to do right off the bat. I remember reading the full document and explanation years ago, and even though I had a PRESTO card then, I totally understood the region's thinking at the time.
 
rbt said:
I'm not even certain GO's paper tickets are driven by the Presto backend.
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At the stations, that's correct. It's a totally different system that has been in place for many years.

On the buses, it is tied in with the Presto System, although may be a secondary system sharing a driver interface.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Reecemartin said:
Well any predictions for when they switch to Presto?
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Lol, I wonder about that myself. I'm sure the EasyGO fare card will use the same Mifare DESFire chip as Presto for its guts, making it a purely software exercise to convert.

Mifare allows multiple applications on the same chip/card (assuming the memory footprint of them all combined doesn't exceed the chip's capacity), so an intermediate step might simply be putting a Presto 'wallet' on the EasyGO card and vice versa, though certainly full integration or absorption of EasyGO into Presto would be better...
 
Megaton327 said:
You can do that in Ottawa and on several GTHA transit agencies. The driver has a separate Presto reader that looks like the one on GO buses, you tell them you want to pay for your companion's fare, they deduct it from your card balance and print out a paper transfer, then you tap to pay your own fare.
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You can do that at the new ticket machines in Ottawa too (on Line 2 formerly known as the Trillium line). You put your presto card in the machine and it will spit out QR tickets for the other passengers, as long as you have money on the card or the passenger is free (in my case when my son wants to ride the train)
 
How did GRT avoid the general threat from the province that thou must use presto to get gas tax revenue?

I thought any large enough transit system was getting the thumb screws now, I'd expect London to be forced to use presto too, though as a presto user from Ottawa I really like being able to use my card in Toronto. I do though hate picking the wrong entrance on a station that doesn't have the new fare gates. More than once I've ended up at an automatic entrance without the old gates,forcing me to walk out and and find another entrance. Most recently at sheppard-yonge but if I had been just a few days later I would have been fine apparently
 
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DKsan said:
It's not exactly revisionist. At the time when GRT and the Region of Waterloo was exploring the fare card option, in 2014, PRESTO wasn't capable of doing the things that the region wanted a fare card to do right off the bat. I remember reading the full document and explanation years ago, and even though I had a PRESTO card then, I totally understood the region's thinking at the time.
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The problem really is a very inconsistent approach by Queens Park.

GRT/Waterloo were not the only people who questioned the capabilities of Presto.....in a September 2010 story, Tess Kalinowski reported that "Meantime, however, the TTC argues that the Presto technology is passé".....she went on to report that "....Wynne, who was part of an announcement Thursday that Presto has already signed on 10,000 users, said the TTC could face financial penalties if it doesn’t get on board with Presto."

As we know, they went on to hold transit capital dollars ransom until Toronto signed on.

So, in a world were some are told about the importance of regional connectivity, golden child KW gets to snub its nose and go in it's own direction on fare card without any ramifications....the TTC is threatened with financial penalties for even suggesting they might do the same.
 
Megaton327 said:
Yeah, all of that is utter nonsense. Clearly revisionist history to defend their absurd choice. Presto accepts payment on the YRT and TTC equivalents of MobilityPLUS, it can integrate the U-Pass, and it can issue machine readable paper tickets from TVMs as proven in Ottawa and coming this year in Toronto as well.
Click to expand...

It isn't revisionist - it was the rationale at the time, and you can find it in the original reports with the recommended course of action. The U-Pass in particular is a huge component of Grand River Transit's ridership, and at the time it was unclear whether Presto would be able and willing to deliver a solution prior to ION's scheduled start.

The Region of Waterloo wanted student cards to be able to double as transit passes, which is what's currently being rolled out. I can't seem to find any examples of Presto offering that - the ones I can find have special Presto cards available to students on request.
 
mpd618 said:
It isn't revisionist - it was the rationale at the time, and you can find it in the original reports with the recommended course of action. The U-Pass in particular is a huge component of Grand River Transit's ridership, and at the time it was unclear whether Presto would be able and willing to deliver a solution prior to ION's scheduled start.

The Region of Waterloo wanted student cards to be able to double as transit passes, which is what's currently being rolled out. I can't seem to find any examples of Presto offering that - the ones I can find have special Presto cards available to students on request.
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Ottawa has this, but I'm not sure the cards are actually run by presto but they are tapped on the presto reader. Our presto readers also can read the fare card used by Gatineau's STO
 
mpd618 said:
The Region of Waterloo wanted student cards to be able to double as transit passes, which is what's currently being rolled out. I can't seem to find any examples of Presto offering that - the ones I can find have special Presto cards available to students on request.
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They seem to have gained that ability now. The current TTC employee passes are also Presto cards. They are even loadable so that an employee can use it on another transit system.

If they can do that for employees of transit systems, no reason why they can't also do that for a U-pass.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Region of Waterloo Press Release: Testing across entire ION LRT route

Waterloo Region – Testing of the ION system is expected to progress to all areas of the ION route, beginning on Thursday, January 11.

Weather dependent, this will begin with un-powered testing – system testing with an ION light rail vehicle being towed – along the Northfield Drive /King Street section of the ION route in Waterloo. Testing is then expected to advance to all areas of the route over the subsequent days.

This is the first time ION light rail vehicles will be travelling alongside cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles in the community. Motorists are reminded to never stop or park their vehicles on light rail tracks. Any vehicle stopped or parked on the tracks will be ticketed or towed.

While vehicles are in testing phase, they will not run on a schedule and will be moving slowly at times. There may also be unexpected signal changes and unusual signal sequencing at intersections. Residents may also see flaggers or paid duty officers assisting crews at intersections.

Testing will advance throughout winter and spring and will continue until service starts. As testing progresses, the speed of the light rail vehicles will increase until they begin to test at operational speeds.

System and light rail vehicle testing advanced throughout 2017 with freight track testing taking place on the ION test track in December, followed by powered testing at the Operations Maintenance and Storage Facility (OMSF) on Dutton Drive.

Testing across the entire light rail transit route is a significant milestone and moves the Region of Waterloo closer to the commencement of light rail service.

For further information on ION safety and ION testing, please visit www.grt.ca/ION
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There's a number of photos and videos being posted to Twitter right now under the hashtag #wrLRT.

Sadly I'm stuck in meetings for most of the day and can't head out to witness it myself... :(
 
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