Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[cplchanb]

Does ML supply the readers? Why can YRT do this and TTC cant? They have zonal fare pricing and they seem to be able to figure it out...... Can the TTC units be overridden by the driver to accept a different fare?
If so they can use front door boarding and solve this issue. Or just scrap the express fee.

 

[Evening]

Does PRESTO have any plans to ever introduce barcoded transfers that can be verified by the PRESTO machines? I've heard talk of disposable RFID cards but the machines don't currently print those so wouldn't that be very time consuming to implement if done manually (the driver has a stack of cards and he/she activates when needed)?

 

[cplchanb]

Does PRESTO have any plans to ever introduce barcoded transfers that can be verified by the PRESTO machines? I've heard talk of disposable RFID cards but the machines don't currently print those so wouldn't that be very time consuming to implement if done manually (the driver has a stack of cards and he/she activates when needed)?

I know that YRT machines are also paired with a transfer printer to do just that albeit without a barcode. Still thats still sufficient for transfers especially since its also time based.
Presto really out to be standardized region wide so that its the same for all systems. Right now TTC and YRT equipment are different and Im sure MW and BT are different from ttc as well.

 

[nfitz]

Why can YRT do this and TTC cant? They have zonal fare pricing and they seem to be able to figure it out.....

Who said they can't figure it out?

The YRT system is fully installed and the TTC system isn't. No, TTC drivers can't over-ride - they haven't gotten their units yet. YRT drivers have their units.

Good grief - people are going to complain if they turn things on before they are fully rolled out - and some are going to complain if they don't turn things on before they are fully rolled out.

It will sort itself out.

 

[cplchanb]

Who said they can't figure it out?

The YRT system is fully installed and the TTC system isn't. No, TTC drivers can't over-ride - they haven't gotten their units yet. YRT drivers have their units.

Good grief - people are going to complain if they turn things on before they are fully rolled out - and some are going to complain if they don't turn things on before they are fully rolled out.

It will sort itself out.

This is a plaguing problem with ttc... Piecemeal operations and poor construction /installation scheduling logic. yrt had everything installed day 1...whatever bugs that were there can be sorted out all at once.. however .in this case there's bugs as it is and I guarantee there will be bugs again once/if the rest of the system gets retrofitted...not to mention the added costs of bringing back the contractors to do a second sweep of 1500 buses. Also don't forget ttcs famous "Testing" regimine

 

[Voltz]

Does PRESTO have any plans to ever introduce barcoded transfers that can be verified by the PRESTO machines? I've heard talk of disposable RFID cards but the machines don't currently print those so wouldn't that be very time consuming to implement if done manually (the driver has a stack of cards and he/she activates when needed)?

Well the problem with bar coded transfers would be that there are no bar code readers on turnstiles or presto devices, and it would not be worthwhile to retrofit them in system wide, if someone pays with a presto card them that would be the transfer anyway, I don't know how RFID printed transfers would work, or if they could be printed from existing transfer printers on busses.

 

[Markster]

We've been on the Express Bus Presto Fare merry-go-round once before!
Starting here: http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/metrolinx-presto-fare-card.4286/page-315#post-1120260

In fact, I think it is thanks in part to people in this thread that this was highlighted, and the "solution" of Presto+token was formalized
https://twitter.com/TTChelps/status/737994800553676800
https://twitter.com/caraaahoustyx/status/739927501858689024

 

[Jonny5]

I've never seen a broken reader once on YRT, Viva, GO train stations, GO buses, MiWay, or HSR in the past 5 years I've been using Presto in the GTHA. Before someone inevitably chimes in otherwise, yes, I am aware that they absolutely do happen, but with the TTC I encounter broken streetcar/bus readers about as often as I do working ones (excluding LFLRVs).

This is ridiculous.

I have encountered occasional broken/out of service readers on GO, both in train stations, including Union, and on GO buses.
I believe the TTC issue has less to do with the reader being "broken" per se, than the system needing a 100% confirmed GPS location to impart the transfer rules. It appears the readers are so sensitive to GPS changes thar even a small glitch or jump in location will make it shutdown and try to restart and figure out where it is again from scratch.

 

[nfitz]

This is a plaguing problem with ttc... Piecemeal operations and poor construction /installation scheduling logic. yrt had everything installed day 1...

So you are saying that TTC should have left all the new Presto fare readers turned off until they could have their own day 1, sometime in 2017?

 

[steveintoronto]

Presto never ceases to amaze on glitches.

When using my Presto to connect from the Lakeshore line at Union on to Union Express, been charged two fares, and the UPX one, even when using the regular GO Presto machines, has been full adult, senior discount not being applied, even though card set-up that way. Just got off phone to flustered GO service rep, he completely sees the problem, but patience is wearing thin for GO staff dealing with endless glitches that shouldn't be happening.

Latest advice is to *not tap on, tap off* when changing trains. That in itself glitches, as I've found out the hard way, when one leg of the trip is over fifteen minutes late. The on-line application for refund refuses to accept a trip from point A to point B unless each leg is tapped off, next one on.

There's another glitch as well being addressed too. The UPX regular GO Presto machines show a fault when tapping on after tapping off of another train in quick succession. Again, the work-around is to not tap-on, tap-off on each leg, the algorithms are still buggy.

If one leg is late, get refund by talking to real staff at GO, not using the on-line application.

Oh Lordy, Lordy, Lordy...

 

[steveintoronto]

Does anyone here know if TTC uses undercover fare enforcement officers?

Absolutely. I live close to the Dundas West Station, saw three rough looking guys grab a meek and intimidated guy on the street. My sixth-sense went off. Some cops were parked a few car-lengths away, I approached them, told them what I saw. They investigated, as it looked like a shakedown, came back to say they're undercover transit enforcement, and the guy had slipped into the Dundas West station without paying.

 

[nfitz]

Yeah, I encountered them once when I slipped out of Broadview off the bus platform, instead of walking 3 sides of a square, during busy rush-hour. You'd think I'd committed a federal offence.

Anyway they were about 40 metres from me, and I was already late for an appointment at the Albany Clinic - so I simply pretended I didn't hear them and scurried to my appointment. I was surprised when I glanced down Broadview as I entered the clinic, that one of them was still following me ... though he didn't seem to enter the building.

Of course, I see no end of TTC staff doing the same thing, at many stations. Walking out of Coxwell through the bus bays seems to be job requirement for subway operators.

 

[DSC]

This is a plaguing problem with ttc... Piecemeal operations and poor construction /installation scheduling logic. yrt had everything installed day 1...whatever bugs that were there can be sorted out all at once.. however .in this case there's bugs as it is and I guarantee there will be bugs again once/if the rest of the system gets retrofitted...not to mention the added costs of bringing back the contractors to do a second sweep of 1500 buses. Also don't forget ttcs famous "Testing" regimine

I suggest you need to rethink this post. The TTC is a huge and complex system and moving to Presto is a massive project. It obviously was going to take months and if they had installed all of the equipment before turning it on would have been far worse. One can argue about the order in which they unveiled the system but to expect or want it all to be turned on in one day is simply silly.

 

[Steve X]

So you are saying that TTC should have left all the new Presto fare readers turned off until they could have their own day 1, sometime in 2017?

That would be a major disaster in the cooking...

 

[DSC]

Surprise!

From G & M

The TTC’s final adoption of the Presto fare-card system will happen even later than expected.

The Toronto Transit Commission has been gradually rolling out Presto across its network and planned to stop accepting “legacy fare media” – tickets and tokens and Metropasses – by the middle of next year. But new delays are pushing the full switchover date farther into 2017.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross said Friday that Presto has been slow developing the software needed for the card to offer Metropass-like functionality. As a result, the TTC is now going only so far as to promise that the old ways of paying will be phased out no later than the end of 2017.
The delay is another black eye for Presto. The card was dreamed as a made-in-Ontario solution by the government at Queen’s Park, which hoped to create a system so good it could sell it to the world. Instead it has taken years, cost a fortune and has less functionality than cards in use in some cities. It has few users so far on the TTC, by far the biggest transit agency in the province.

The upside of the Presto delay, though, is that it might help the TTC close part of its looming budget shortfall. Instead of budgeting $30-million in fees to Presto next year, the agency is now pencilling in $14-million.