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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

Had a multi agency Presto trip today (GO, Brampton Transit AM; Brampton Transit, Miway, UPX, TTC PM). The joys of trying to do a days work in the burbs without a car :(

My transaction history is a mess. I missed a tap off because of a misunderstanding of transfer rules between GO and Brampton Transit (which I accept I'll have to take a hit on, but I had checked GO's website last night and still got it wrong) but I think this led to me being screwed on the subsequent UPX trip where I did tap off. Am going to wait until all transactions show before deciding whether to call - my morning BT trip and afternoon Miway trip aren't showing yet.
 
I have presto. Appologise if this has been brought up here (its a long thread). but i have a question. I though that when i first got the card about eight months ago, the readers at the subway stations (at Union stn for example) would display the remaining balance when you tapped it. I seem to recall that it would show so quickly that you didnt really get a chance to fully read it. But none the less, it appeared to be there. Or was i missreading this? I dont see this now.

With just about everything nowadays forcing you to go on line, i would rather know (as i am using the card) when balance is running out. That way i could go directly to the machine instaed of having to bother with another (of a gazillion) on-line user ids and password that we have to remember and track.

Has this feature be disabled? Has it ever been considered? I hate using it when its declined and only knowing then.
 
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Burnt creek said:
I have presto. Appologise if this has been brought up here (its a long thread). but i have a question. I though that when i first got the card about eight months ago, the readers at the subway stations (at Union stn for example) would display the remaining balance when you tapped it. I seem to recall that it would show so quickly that you didnt really get a chance to fully read it. But none the less, it appeared to be there. Or was i missreading this? I dont see this now.

With just about everything nowadays forcing you to go on line, i would rather know (as i am using the card) when balance is running out. That way i could go directly to the machine instaed of having to bother with another (of a gazillion) on-line user ids and password that we have to remember and track.

Has this feature be disabled? Has it ever been considered? I hate using it when its declined and only knowing then.
Click to expand...

They have gotten rid of that on the new TTC Presto readers, and this has been a huge source of displeasure to the public judging by twitter, and some on this forum. The TTC has indicated they will not be bringing it back. They have no legitimate reason for doing this.

You can check your balance using the self-serve reload machines in many subway stations--just put your card in, it'll show you your balance, if you don't want to reload just press 'done' and remove your card. In the future, those machines will be at every subway station.

Your options are either that, or using the website (or using another transit agency--GO has balance checkers at its train stations, and every other Presto transit agency in Ontario shows balance when you tap--GO, YRT/Viva, Brampton, MiWay, HSR, etc), but note the website does not necessarily update until 24 hours since a tap, so the balance shown there may be out of date. A couple of other alternatives are visiting TTC customer service at Davisville where they can query a Presto card, or when you pay your fare on the new streetcars and tap the cash fare machine for a paper transfer from your Presto card, those will actually show your balance on the screen while printing a transfer.

You can also set up autoload on the Presto website, which will use your bank account or credit card to automatically load a given amount onto your card whenever it drops below a certain amount. Autoloads happen instantaneously, whenever you tap and your balance is low it'll top up your card, theoretically preventing it from ever running out of money and being declined, but only reloading it when necessary according to what you specify.
 
dowlingm said:
I think this led to me being screwed on the subsequent UPX trip where I did tap off.
Click to expand...

I called them last week, and they agreed that my UPX fares were being applied as a new trip even when connecting through on other GO trains, and my discounts also weren't being applied. They promised to get back to me in a few days. I was advised to not tap off GO trains and then tap back onto UPX (which is totally contrary to their published instructions) and to just tap on at the beginning of the train journey, and then off when exiting UPX. It's now going on a week and they haven't gotten back to me.

Check your records, folks, if you are using your Presto card to connect through on GO to UPX or vice-versa. If that bug is affecting me, it's most likely affecting others. It used to work fine, now it isn't.
 
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I'm having an interesting fare adjustment issue with GO, which I won't go into yet as a) they are still working on it - quite responsively, too - and b) it was my booboo in the first place.

Anyways, the thing that I would point out is that the "Contact Us" form on the Presto web site has the following error trap:
  • Please enter your questions or comments without using the below special characters: | & ; $ % ' \ " <> () + ,
This seems like a Programming 101 level deficiency. I had some web site design done in my own work and I know that this constraint can happen with dialog boxes......IF the developer uses particular software (ie, something that isn't truly appropriate for the task) and/or if they are working in haste or just not concerned about product quality.

Try writing a typical Presto fare problem statement that doesn't utilise some of those characters......and try to find another customer oriented business with material on the web that tolerates this deficiency in its customer interface.

- Paul
 
Presto has tweeted that Christie station is the latest station to get new fare gates.

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Megaton327 said:
They have gotten rid of that on the new TTC Presto readers, and this has been a huge source of displeasure to the public judging by twitter, and some on this forum. The TTC has indicated they will not be bringing it back. They have no legitimate reason for doing this.

You can check your balance using the self-serve reload machines in many subway stations--just put your card in, it'll show you your balance, if you don't want to reload just press 'done' and remove your card. In the future, those machines will be at every subway station.

Your options are either that, or using the website (or using another transit agency--GO has balance checkers at its train stations, and every other Presto transit agency in Ontario shows balance when you tap--GO, YRT/Viva, Brampton, MiWay, HSR, etc), but note the website does not necessarily update until 24 hours since a tap, so the balance shown there may be out of date. A couple of other alternatives are visiting TTC customer service at Davisville where they can query a Presto card, or when you pay your fare on the new streetcars and tap the cash fare machine for a paper transfer from your Presto card, those will actually show your balance on the screen while printing a transfer.

You can also set up autoload on the Presto website, which will use your bank account or credit card to automatically load a given amount onto your card whenever it drops below a certain amount. Autoloads happen instantaneously, whenever you tap and your balance is low it'll top up your card, theoretically preventing it from ever running out of money and being declined, but only reloading it when necessary according to what you specify.
Click to expand...


I'm just curious do poel relly take the time to see if the balance is coret every time they tape in and out or is it just a few. I know when I tap on the go train when I use it all I check is if the fare was paid I don't relly bother with what my balance is. If I want to know it I just pull it up on my computer or on my phone. I have no problem with the website on it. I personally dislike sites that are optimized for mobile as they usually take things out of them. Although I would like an App that could use the NFC devices in a smartphone to act as apreto card as well.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
(corrected spelling) I'm just curious, do people really take the time to see if the balance is correct every time they tap in and out or is it just a few?
Click to expand...
You make an unintended point! You don't check what you type before posting, so it's a fair guess to say you don't check your balance.

I'm more intent on checking my balance every time I get screwed by Presto, and that's pretty regularly. I always get it straightened out, but it shouldn't have to be that way. One shouldn't need to keep checking how much you're getting dinged. My beef is that the readers are often in sunlight, and you can't see the display characters. And on the pay stalks, you have less than a second to see what the balance is, and often you just see the last three numerals, and not the first, so panic sets in until you find a proper reader, only to find there's indeed a four figure reading.

Short answer: If Presto wasn't so freakin buggy, then more people wouldn't need to keep looking over its shoulder.
 
steveintoronto said:
You make an unintended point! You don't check what you type before posting, so it's a fair guess to say you don't check your balance.

I'm more intent on checking my balance every time I get screwed by Presto, and that's pretty regularly. I always get it straightened out, but it shouldn't have to be that way. One shouldn't need to keep checking how much you're getting dinged. My beef is that the readers are often in sunlight, and you can't see the display characters. And on the pay stalks, you have less than a second to see what the balance is, and often you just see the last three numerals, and not the first, so panic sets in until you find a proper reader, only to find there's indeed a four figure reading.

Short answer: If Presto wasn't so freakin buggy, then more people wouldn't need to keep looking over its shoulder.
Click to expand...

I get that presto can be kind of buggy for some people but more what I was saying is lets ay out of 10 people that use a presto reader how amy just go by it and tap and don't look unless it makes a different nose or flash red. When I've used it in Union station and elsewhere I;'ve only seen it show the amount it charged and the time left to use that fare.. Like I said I also usually double check it online . I think most people tend to do that too as I don't really see anyone stop at a presto machine longer then the time it takes to tap, mos of the time I just see poel tap as they are waling past it.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Still waiting for some sort of PRESTO app so we can check our balances and status ASAP, and not after 24 hours or more.
Click to expand...

I don't think any farecard system in the world has this, simply because balances are stored on your card and retrieved from the card by the central system. That design keeps the systems reliable, since terminals can work without being disconnected from the central system. It's also the reason why online and telephone funds take 24 hours to be loaded, but it's instant at the Go stations and self-serve machines.

There are special Presto terminals that can be used to check card balances. Every Go Train station has them, and so do some major bus terminals in Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville and Burlington. The TTC hasn't said if they're going to have them in subway stations AFAIK.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Still waiting for some sort of PRESTO app so we can check our balances and status ASAP, and not after 24 hours or more.
Click to expand...

amnesiajune said:
I don't think any farecard system in the world has this, simply because balances are stored on your card and retrieved from the card by the central system. That design keeps the systems reliable, since terminals can work without being disconnected from the central system. It's also the reason why online and telephone funds take 24 hours to be loaded, but it's instant at the Go stations and self-serve machines.

There are special Presto terminals that can be used to check card balances. Every Go Train station has them, and so do some major bus terminals in Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville and Burlington. The TTC hasn't said if they're going to have them in subway stations AFAIK.
Click to expand...

Actually how I interpreted that question was referencing an app that can use NFC to read the balance off the physical card in real-time, in addition to having online account capabilities. That way you'd get the live balance without having to wait at all. But somehow I don't see that happening if it's taking this long for them to even put out a mobile app for the existing website-based functionality...

And even with a 24-hour delay I'd find a Presto mobile app very useful.
 
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