Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Right now perhaps, but that's because TTC negotiated it's agreement with Presto years later, and with a lot more detail and knowledge than the initial agencies. As all the other agencies are now in the middle of negotiating new contracts, and are being asked to pay more than TTC paid, I'm quite sure they are looking for a lot of asks, that they didn't get before, now that they can see what is available. Like paper tickets, refill machines, on-board ticket machines, ticket machines at stops, along with other products and improvements.

Single use RFID tickets are only being implemented on the TTC as you will have to tap out of the system to leave eventually onee the entire system is 100% Presto ready. This summer they are planning to start selling the monthly metropass on it the weekly pass will be charged to your presto card when you reach the cost of it the same as day pass when using a regular fare.

 

[LNahid2000]

Why does that matter? It doesn't need to be within walking distance. Your computer is within walking distance. Most people will never use this service.

I can't load my Presto card while I'm at a computer and then instantly use the TTC. Why do you think Hong Kong has thousands of vendors that load Octopus cards? If I'm out, it's a lot more convenient than using my computer.

http://www.octopus.com.hk/easy-reloading/other-ways-to-reload/en/index.html

 

[amnesiajune]

Why would we be so different than Vancouver?

Because we aren't Vancouver.

Single use RFID tickets are only being implemented on the TTC as you will have to tap out of the system to leave eventually onee the entire system is 100% Presto ready.

No you won't.

I can't load my Presto card while I'm at a computer and then instantly use the TTC.

No, but you can now (apparently) go to a store to load your Presto card and then use the TTC. Is might not be within a stone's throw of every square inch of the city, but there's a Shoppers Drug Mart within a ~15 minute walk of virtually anywhere in Toronto.

People need to stop having unrealistic expectations. No, Presto isn't going to be perfect. It is going to have some drawbacks that the current system doesn't have, but that's how change works. It's still going to be a lot better than the existing system. I've been double-charged by TTC collectors as many times as I've had any sort of problem with Presto reloads (once each), and tokens, unlike my Presto card, have been swallowed by TTC entrances without letting me in.

Presto could turn water into wine and I swear that half of the people in this thread would complain that it doesn't make Pinot Noir.

 

[littlewill1166]

Single use RFID tickets are only being implemented on the TTC as you will have to tap out of the system to leave eventually onee the entire system is 100% Presto ready. This summer they are planning to start selling the monthly metropass on it the weekly pass will be charged to your presto card when you reach the cost of it the same as day pass when using a regular fare.

Tap out is only for subways so that people can't use the umbrella trick.

 

[Megaton327]

Tap out is only for subways so that people can't use the umbrella trick.

The main purpose of it is for fare by distance/zones to be implemented in the future. It will most likely begin in limited form at the end of 2017, where tap-out will probably be required at the TYSSE stations to allow for free York U trips for passengers of GO/YRT/Viva/Zum.

 

[LNahid2000]

10 stores...what a joke.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/08/shoppers-drug-mart-to-sell-presto-fare-cards.html

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

10 stores...what a joke.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/08/shoppers-drug-mart-to-sell-presto-fare-cards.html

Apparently Del Duca has been reduced to being a mascot to be trotted out at select retail outlets.

AoD

 

[Avenue]

I cannot believe after so many months Bloor-Yonge station still has only ONE presto loading machine and that it works like 30 percent of the time.

 

[amnesiajune]

10 stores...what a joke.

"According to a source with knowledge of the deal, the fare cards will initially be on sale at 10 Shoppers locations in Toronto this spring, and if all goes well, the program will be rolled out to more of the drug stores later this year."

It sounds like the 10 stores are just an initial pilot for this.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I cannot believe after so many months Bloor-Yonge station still has only ONE presto loading machine and that it works like 30 percent of the time.

Or how the busiest stations in the system has the least number of Presto equipped turnstyles/faregates - and they are taking sweet time to fix this after the initial fare gate installation rush.

AoD

 

[LNahid2000]

I cannot believe after so many months Bloor-Yonge station still has only ONE presto loading machine and that it works like 30 percent of the time.

This is seriously my biggest complaint about Presto. I literally live above the station, so it's easier for me to load there on my way home rather than loading online, but half the time I'm there the machine isn't working.

 

[amnesiajune]

The main purpose of it is for fare by distance/zones to be implemented in the future. It will most likely begin in limited form at the end of 2017, where tap-out will probably be required at the TYSSE stations to allow for free York U trips for passengers of GO/YRT/Viva/Zum.

The TTC hasn't said anything to suggest that this is gonna happen, and the fare gates they have at York U suggest that it won't:

 

[TOareaFan]

Apparently Del Duca has been reduced to being a mascot to be trotted out at select retail outlets.

AoD

Next up......Canadian Tire trial run on being the official booster cable supplier to the massive parking garages?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Next up......Canadian Tire trial run on being the official booster cable supplier to the massive parking garages?

Nah, Gymboree selling Presto for Kids training kits.

AoD

 

[KevinT]

Surely, we don't want people tapping the cards from inside their wallet, given all the other RFID devices many people carry.

How do you know that it isn't your RFID debit or credit card that it sees first?

The Wikipedia page for the Octopus card (for what little that's worth) notes that "Octopus uses a nonstandard system for RFID instead of the more popular ISO/IEC 14443 standards". Hmm, would that reduce card clash?

ISO/IEC 14443 gives each card a Unique ID (akin to an Ethernet card's MAC address) that allows a reader to detect multiple cards in the read field and select them individually for query. Only one of the cards in your wallet will have the Presto application on it (unless you have two or more Presto cards, but that's another conversation) and once the reader has identified that card it will be the only one it continues to dialog with.

Not all readers are created equal however, I've dealt with some that handle up to 8 cards in the read field at a time while others get bogged down with anything more than two (each card is a "load" that the read field must keep powered). I don't know whose reader the Presto folks have gone with, or how many it can handle at once. Going non-standard is actually worse, at least when they're standard the reader can idle a card after it's queried it to determine that it's not the one of interest, reducing the load to improve conditions for its dialog with the remaining cards.