News   Jun 26, 2024
Resubmission Reduces Height and Density at Kipling Station
 840     0 
News   Jun 26, 2024
The Whitfield's Podium Fully Formed as Construction Continues
 734     0 
News   Jun 26, 2024
Value Engineering in Forming Contributes to Construction Bottom Line
 666     0 

Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

nfitz said:
Presto has been fully implemented on both Burlington Transit and Oakville Transit. I'm sure many if not most trips on these agencies don't start or stop at a Presto agency.
Click to expand...

Actually, I think almost all Burlington Transit routes pass by at least one Presto agency on their route as they use the GO stations as central transfer points.
I don't know much about Oakville Transit, but passing through the stations, I always see there are a lot of routes that terminate there.

Yesterday I had to go to Hamilton from Toronto. Normally I would take the GO express bus, but I was out in Mimico, so I took the GO train to Aldershot and transferred to Burlington Transit route 1, riding it to downtown Hamilton. Happy to report the system worked everything out for me and charged only the 65 cent co-fare for the BT trip portion.
 
Last edited:
Jonny5 said:
Actually, I think almost all Burlington Transit routes pass by at least one Presto agency on their route as they use the GO stations as central transfer points.
I don't know much about Oakville Transit, but passing through the stations, I always see there are a lot of routes that terminate there.
Click to expand...
So basically you're saying it's okay to design the system that you can't clear a negative balance either on-line, or on the phone, and justifying having to go in person to find an agent?

Personally I think such a design is an example of incompetence.
 
nfitz said:
So basically you're saying it's okay to design the system that you can't clear a negative balance either on-line, or on the phone, and justifying having to go in person to find an agent?

Personally I think such a design is an example of incompetence.
Click to expand...

You can find me saying earlier in this thread the inability to clear a negative balance fee through a website payment is a design flaw. I went negative recently and had to deal with clearing it too.
I was merely pointing out that the suburban transit installations so far do not lend themselves to this type of negative balance problem ever occurring. It's not an excuse of the design , I'm just trying to relate their line of thinking to the current implementation. The system at this stage is designed for someone in Halton who takes transit to/from the GO station, or someone on Lakeshore West who drives to the GO station every day. I don't think the PRESTO folks actually care about the inconvenience to Toronto users at the moment as they don't expect any of them to use the card at all. Especially people from Lakeshore East regions where Presto is still unknown and unadvertised.

However they do need to sort things out soon as their next big test will be HSR/Hamilton transit users who will be on line in two to three months. There are many users there who will never pass near a PRESTO agency.
 
Last edited:
Haven't had a chance to go to Union yet to clear up my negative balance. In the meantime, they amuse themselves by repeatedly crediting my $20 reload to my credit card, only to debit it again the next day...
 
I <3 Presto

Jonny5 said:
Yesterday I had to go to Hamilton from Toronto. Normally I would take the GO express bus, but I was out in Mimico, so I took the GO train to Aldershot and transferred to Burlington Transit route 1, riding it to downtown Hamilton. Happy to report the system worked everything out for me and charged only the 65 cent co-fare for the BT trip portion.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I may be using that route in the future.

Can't wait for full TTC implementation.
 
Bayer said:
Haven't had a chance to go to Union yet to clear up my negative balance. In the meantime, they amuse themselves by repeatedly crediting my $20 reload to my credit card, only to debit it again the next day...
Click to expand...

That is surely ridiculous...
 
A few details on how the system works which may be of interest to someone:

When you board a local bus, you swipe the card and then ride it to the GO Station. You pay the regular bus fare.
At the station, you swipe again and it charges you $4.20. You do not get the co-fare discount yet. When you arrive at your destination, you swipe again and it charges you the distance portion of the fare, less the co-fare discount for your local transit trip. It will not let you on GO unless you have $4.20 on your card. They talk about going negative on the website, but this is only after paying the $4.20.

How the system knows you are entitled to a co-fare discount is strange. I guess the card stores data that you were just on a local bus and are entitled to it.
 
Last edited:
The system has to store data on all your trips, so that loyalty discounts can be applied and tax receipts for the federal tax credit can be issued.
 
Happy to report that my card is now activated....it only took 2 phone calls, 2 visits to the web page and 2 trips to union. This is a super convenient card and I look forward to using it.
 
TOareaFan said:
Happy to report that my card is now activated....it only took 2 phone calls, 2 visits to the web page and 2 trips to union. This is a super convenient card and I look forward to using it.
Click to expand...

I cannot wait to make 2 trips to Union! So much more convenient than paying cash! PRESTO!
 
chriskayTO said:
Not necessarily - many smart card systems don't have a stored value at all and just "phone home" in order to find out your balance and/or entitlements/passes.
Click to expand...

This is what I was getting at. The system can work just fine without storing anything on the card, but you would not get co-fare discounts when you used the card, but only when the computers go through an overnight process and identify eligible transfers. I guess with so much bus use intended for this system, they had to make it work like this. When you board a bus, the bus' machine will check your card to see how much balance you have used that day already compared to what you had the last time it was updated.

Today I saw for the first time the PRESTO bus machines spit out transfers for anyone who pays in cash. They just print on demand by a button pressed by the driver and look like the tickets GO TVMs create.
 
Last edited:
Actually come to think of it, I don't think any of the (major) transit farecard systems (Octopus, Oyster, Suica, CharlieCard, Opus or any of the other Japanese/American/European ones) don't store data on the card and communicate with the clearinghouse only for non-immediate clearing purposes.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top