Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[W. K. Lis]

LOL! I'm certainly not letting my 11-year old take her passport to school in case she get's ID'd on the streetcar! She's very tall for her age too, I know smaller 13-year olds ...

With all the hassle, I don't really want her taking her Presto card most of the time, in case it got lost ... it's useful to get her through subway gates, but she's never had reason to take that by herself (though she easily could if we lived by a subway station instead of a streetcar stop).

I use a plastic enclosure attached to a lanyard around my neck.

From link.

Do a google search for transit pass lanyard. DO NOT PUNCH A HOLE in the card.

 

[nfitz]

I use a plastic enclosure attached to a lanyard around my neck.

Given that there seems to be a criminal interest in children's Presto cards, I think the last think I'd want is my 11-year old riding the streetcar by herself with a lanyard around her neck with a PrestoCard in it! Seems unnecessarily risky!

 

[W. K. Lis]

Given that there seems to be a criminal interest in children's Presto cards, I think the last think I'd want is my 11-year old riding the streetcar by herself with a lanyard around her neck with a PrestoCard in it! Seems unnecessarily risky!

Be sure that the lanyard is the breakaway type.

 

[nfitz]

Be sure that the lanyard is the breakaway type.

True ... I wasn't even thinking of strangulation issues. I was simply thinking of the "creating potential mugging target" issue!

 

[44 North]

According to the Fare Evasion report

• child Presto cards do not indicate to the driver that a child card was used. Since there is no enforcement on buses or within subways, people would get off scott free

• 
  

• According to the Fare Evasion report
  

  • child Presto cards do not indicate to the driver that a child card was used. Since there is no enforcement on buses or within subways, people would get off scott free

  [*][*]

Maaan, this is going to be bad. Over the next few months tens of thousands more will be cheating the system without even really "cheating" it (in the conventional evasion scenario). It's practically a loophole. This has gotta be fixed asap. Can each terminal be updated remotely?

Not everyone can afford the newest smartphone, so that wouldn't be very useful. A good chunk of phone users using a phone that isn't the latest model so you know.

Or sometimes not even about costs. Lots of people buy a piece of technology until it's obsolete, or damaged to the point of being unrepairable. Never get those wedded to a high-end device but immediately buy the newest version when it comes out, happily discarding something not few months earlier they were supposedly in love with.

 

[littlewill1166]

Maaan, this is going to be bad. Over the next few months tens of thousands more will be cheating the system without even really "cheating" it (in the conventional evasion scenario). It's practically a loophole. This has gotta be fixed asap. Can each terminal be updated remotely?

Assuming that they didn't change how the VISION system interfaces with the presto readers from this diagram, the answer is no. However, the TTC could implement an agency-specific concession like they did with PS2.

 

[pman]

Surely the best solution is to have a TTC inspector at every single fare gate to check that people are using the proper card.

 

[littlewill1166]

Surely the best solution is to have a TTC inspector at every single fare gate to check that people are using the proper card.

That would probably cost more than it yields.

 

[Steve X]

I really don't know who planned the idea of a free access child card without any way to tell it's being used. I foresee this problem from day one. Did they recently realized that this is happening on a regular basis?

Maaan, this is going to be bad. Over the next few months tens of thousands more will be cheating the system without even really "cheating" it (in the conventional evasion scenario). It's practically a loophole. This has gotta be fixed asap. Can each terminal be updated remotely?

If they can't do anything in the meantime, I think they should just charge adult fare if a child card is tapped. Tell the children to stop using the card and use main subway entrances with staff and don't tap on buses/streetcars till the solve the problem.

Surely the best solution is to have a TTC inspector at every single fare gate to check that people are using the proper card.

They should just install a multicolour LED light on every gate that will light up with Adult, Senior/Student and Child concession. It'll be easy to spot and have an officer there ready to write a ticket. The report has noted inspectors don't have the ability to arrest someone if they resist or simply walk away.

They might as well gate busy streetcar and bus terminals. Place a set of gates at the Spadina streetcar loop. Put a presto machine there and let people buy a ticket if they don't have one. Vancouver has them at entrances for those who didn't buy the correct zone or fare evaded into the system. This saves all the courts fee and fines TTC won't even get to keep.

 

[44 North]

They should just install a multicolour LED light on every gate that will light up with Adult, Senior/Student and Child concession. It'll be easy to spot and have an officer there ready to write a ticket.

That. But more importantly deactivate then re-issue the cards so they're noticeably different. Rainbow polka dots for child card and it's basically fixed.

 

[littlewill1166]

That. But more importantly deactivate then re-issue the cards so they're noticeably different. Rainbow polka dots for child card and it's basically fixed.

They can't do that because there are other agencies also using child card like GO, YRT, etc. What they could do is make an agency specific concession like they did with the fair pass.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

They can't do that because there are other agencies also using child card like GO, YRT, etc. What they could do is make an agency specific concession like they did with the fair pass.

That makes sense. Also add @44 North suggestion of sticker polka dots or something like that

 

[TheTigerMaster]

This kind of thing is what happens when you have a division of responsibilities fragmented across multiple agencies. Organizations are prone to making errors, such as this child fare issue, unless all parties have a seat at the table throughout the process.

 

[nfitz]

They can't do that because there are other agencies also using child card like GO, YRT, etc. What they could do is make an agency specific concession like they did with the fair pass.

I'd think they could simply block that card type on TTC devices. As children don't need to pay any $ at all, they don't in theory need cards. It's only an issue when travelling alone entering the subway through unstaffed entrances.

However for many years kids with child tickets haven't been able to enter such entrances, and had to go to the main entrance. So what really has changed if kids don't have cards at all?

I don't get why the cards aren't different colors honestly. Sometimes I just think that the contractors hired to develop Presto were gasp not the brightest or best researchers.

The contractor bids to meet the specifications developed by - in this case the Ministry of Transport and Metrolinx.

The issue then is perhaps that those writing the specifications may not have been the brightest!

 

[Neutrino]

What an epic clusterfuck. It's almost hilarious if it wasn't our money on the line.