News   Nov 22, 2024
National Housing Day: City of Toronto and Riverdale Co-op Open Affordable Homes
 758     1 
News   Nov 22, 2024
Bauhaus Condos Rising in Toronto's Old Town
 1.3K     5 
News   Nov 22, 2024
49-Storey Waterfront Tower Proposed at Spadina and Queens Quay
 3.4K     8 

Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

rbt said:
You might use an electronic Starbucks card, Vancouver or Montreal transit cards which are all Open Payment NFC cards. Nearly anything that provides a fixed account number though that mechanism could work with existing equipment (in theory; after bugs are squashed).
Click to expand...

Tying a Presto balance to a single account associated with multiple payment cards requires the payment terminals to be online at all times, with zero network latency (even 1 second of latency would be a deal breaker at fare gates and during rush-hour bus/streetcar boardings). The driving idea of Presto's current implementation is that the data is self contained on the card so that payment terminals don't need that kind of connectivity, the entire transaction takes place only between terminal and card. I don't see your proposal happening any time soon, if ever.
 
Last edited:
^ It's an interesting point inasmuch as privacy is concerned too. If the cards 'talk to each other' (even indirectly, via transactions at terminals, which successively leave a matrix of communications able to 'track' the person) then the person carrying them is as connected as a graph on a map, if not more, thus showing where that person is almost to the degree of a GPS tracker.

As much as the 'bother of cash' is to some, the 'bother of always being plotted' is an invasion to others. Although not as comprehensive and continuous as a 'smart phone' (even a cell phone), it's hypocritical to talk of 'invasion of privacy' when the individual wishes to have 'zero latency' in being connected.

Already it's controlling many zombies walking around strapped to their i-memyself devices.
 
KevinT said:
Tying a Presto balance to a single account associated with multiple payment cards requires the payment terminals to be online at all times, with zero network latency (even 1 second of latency would be a deal breaker at fare gates and during rush-hour bus/streetcar boardings).
Click to expand...

The terminals would require periodic connectivity but closer to 10 minute intervals would work perfectly well 99.9% of the time. Local storage and a method for downloading the current registration database (or changes) to local memory would be sufficient. You can hold ~10 million indexed card registrations in 100MB of flash.

That said, if the chip has a payment method (credit, debit, etc.) you would just hold onto that information and let the backend sort it out later; whether it was a free trip or to charge $3.

It's an interesting thought experiment. Not something Metrolinx would every do simply due to public education issues. A private firm making a bid on the original TTC specs, without creating cards, might have tried transferable passes in that way.
 
Last edited:
Some positive news pointing towards the elimination or reduction of the $6 admin fees in the November CEOs report:
Other positive news included the PRESTO card promotion. The PRESTO adoption strategy includes the TTC providing about 500,000 complimentary PRESTO cards to children and youth enrolled in a Toronto school (English, French, private and independent), low-income adults and seniors (with assistance
from the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction office) and to our Volume Incentive Program and Metropass Discount Plan Metropass customers. Metrolinx has agreed to reduce the cost of the card to the TTC, which allows us to purchase the cards within our operating budget at an approximate cost of $1.5 million. We are working out the logistics with Metrolinx and our partners on this initiative. Cards are scheduled to be delivered and distributed, starting Q4 2018 and continue into early 2019. This campaign will increase adoption by getting cards to children, youth, low- income customers and our VIP and MDP customers. We appreciate Metrolinx’s partnership in this initiative.
Click to expand...
 
Presto question dear Urban Toronto Forum dwellers. I currently have a monthly pass which expires at the end of November. Can I load different fares on it? Say, 10 single fares? Thanks.
 
barit said:
Presto question dear Urban Toronto Forum dwellers. I currently have a monthly pass which expires at the end of November. Can I load different fares on it? Say, 10 single fares? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I take it that you mean can you load single fares onto a Presto card. You can load any amount of money you want to onto a Presto card up to $1,000 and it can be used on any transit system that accepts it not just the TTC.
 
When I grow up, I want to have $1,000 on my Presto. What a dream.
 
barit said:
Presto question dear Urban Toronto Forum dwellers. I currently have a monthly pass which expires at the end of November. Can I load different fares on it? Say, 10 single fares? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Unlike Opus, you don't prepurchase tickets. Just monthly (or weekly in theory) passes.

So if you load $30, that would give you the equivalent of 10 single fares. Which you can certainly do!

Also, unlike Opus, Presto doesn't care if you use that $30 on TTC fares, GO fares, or even OC Transpo fares!
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top