It just needs a power source. Then when the bus returns to the yard it gets uploaded through Wi-Fi or some other means to the central network (it's for this reason that it takes 24 hours for your fare to be loaded...the readers themselves have to be updated to to know that you need to have your card topped up to ex amount of $$ if the value is equal to or less than what the system says, otherwise it just deducts the value from your card if your card has already been topped up at another station, bus or kiosk.
Buses transmit data at their yards through Wi-Fi for other things like automatic passengers counts and diagnostic data (sometimes GPS data if it's not transmitted and collected in real-time).
The readers themselves don't have Wi-Fi built in for that purpose though, they connect to the existing Wi-Fi bridge already in the bus (at least in Ottawa). The sales sheet for the Scheidt & Bachmann FareGo Val OV|40 says that the readers have WLAN for maintenance and servicing the reader only, and that communications take place over Ethernet LAN.
Well, perhaps GO mods are needed.
So, I'll amend my suggestion -- any variant of that "reader on a pole" technology, but modified for GO's purpose.
I was more talking about reader expenses. Not installation expenses. The ones used by GO looks like it is more expensive to manufacture, than the "pod" type readers (more materials than a simple parking meter pole, "pod on a pole" reader). If they are going to do a major RER expansion and also put more readers around, it's worth considering that a pole-in-ground is probably cheaper.
On the subject of installation expenses:
As for installation expenses, they could reduce install costs by eliminating the Ethernet too: I don't think Ethernet is necessary (though a jack should be available for convenience-of-data and upcoming realtime online balance refills -- in locations where Ethernet is available); it would even be upgraded to also work over WiFi (2.4Ghz+5GHz redundancy from interference/RFI) -- perhaps that why TTC installed WiFi at some stations -- it was documented somewhere that WiFi was needed too for infrastructural reasons; and providing WiFi to the public was not even the primary reason, apparently. This could include wireless transmission to future Presto readers at these TTC stations (to speed up reader installation). Tap balance updates are done offline, so it doesn't even require nonstop reliable realtime over WiFi -- which means WiFi is good enough -- the WiFi only needs to work well enough for sufficiently frequent updates of card validity and balances (e.g. hourly or more often), and central can raise an alarm if a reader hasn't reported in for too long. Then the only requirement is simply power, and so they can plaster an area with lots of inexpensive Presto readers. For example, the upcoming new Prestoified TTC turnstiles may use WiFi to update the Presto refill balances. The turnstiles already have power, and it prevents TTC from digging up the floor to install networking infrastructure. No new wires. So only turnstile modification is required.
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On a related subject (which may have come up already, but I missed); are any of the Presto readers installed anywhere in Ontario, capable of self-contained transmission? (e.g. WiFi/3G/LTE/etc built directly into each individual reader, separately of adjacent readers). Since that's really inexpensive to add that technology nowadays (compared to the total cost of reader), I'd bet at least one probably is already, but which?
I forgot that the Scheidt & Bachmann FareGo Val SV|40 SFTPs for the train in Ottawa do have a single button, along with a headphone jack for audio out. It may be possible to add more buttons, but Scheidt & Bachmann also makes a device, the SV|50 similar to the existing readers on GO, that has up to three buttons. Rather than a pole it appears to use a piece of rolled sheet metal, but it may be cheaper overall than modifying the SV|40.
Sales sheets:
http://www.scheidt-bachmann.com/uploads/media/Productinfo_FareGo_Val_SV40_EN_Neu.pdf
http://www.scheidt-bachmann.com/uploads/media/Productinfo_FareGo_Val_SV50_EN_Neu.pdf
Using Wi-Fi only makes sense if the power is already there, since if you have to run conduit to supply power to a new pedestal reader, the cost to also run conduit with Ethernet is marginal and good future-proofing. Using Wi-Fi only makes sense if the power is already available, such as at a turnstile, and even then may not be a good value situation since the use of credit cards in the future will be much easier if a reliable connection is available. If you look at the sales sheets above, you will see that the Pedestal SV|50 has support for WLAN operation, while the Pedestal SV|40 and On-Board OV|40 used in Ottawa and on the Streetcars do not.
I believe that the installation of Wi-Fi was not specifically about making the existing internet access wireless, but that there was no internet access available at all in many stations. Installing internet access, and potentially Wi-Fi, was required to accept Debit/Credit transactions at the collector's booths.
With regard to wireless connectivity, I cannot speak to the Thales Gen. 1 Devices, but the Scheidt & Bachmann Gen 2 Devices used in Ottawa list 3G/LTE connectivity as an option, even though they don't list WLAN as an option. I doubt they have it installed though.
Having read that the TTC will try and move devices originally slated for the new Streetcars to the old ones, they would be referring to the OV|40 devices, which rely on Ethernet. Since the streetcars only have one fare class and report to a car barn reliably every night, there may not be a need for driver interaction and a Wi-Fi bridge likely already exists, if not full on cellular data (location updates). If the devices need to be fully self-contained, they could be ordered with the cellular modem built in, and then the SIM could just be pulled out of them when they are moved to the new streetcars and wired into the LAN on the new vehicles.
