Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[Northern Light]

@yrt+viva=1system gave us a preview of today's Presto announcement a few days early.

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca

The details from the above:

 

[Coolibop]

I wonder if they'll ever change the adult fare from $4 for durham region. It's 75 cents more per ride versus presto tap.

'Easier' for us by charging 75 cents more?

 

[treplow]

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try out the Apple Pay feature on a GO Train trip from Bronte to Union. At Bronte I tapped my iPhone against the Presto card reader; my phone gave the usual beep sound and displayed a checkmark to show that the transaction via Apple Pay was successful, however I didn't see anything happen on the Presto card reader. Same thing happened on my trip home from Union to Bronte. I checked my bank balance every couple of days after that but no Presto transaction appeared. My default Apple Pay card on my phone is a Scotiabank Visa Debit card, could that be the reason the Presto reader apparently didn't process the transaction?

 

[nfitz]

Yeah - they don't take debit yet.

 

[duffo]

Saw them installing the new PRESTO readers at St Clair subway station today!

 

[duffo]

Just took this. Notably, a second reader on the front of the gate.

 

[mind_the_gap]

^ What about barcode readers like Ottawa has on their gates (edit: and the new Famoco bus/streetcar units have)?

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

^ What about barcode readers like Ottawa has on their gates (edit: and the new Famoco bus/streetcar units have)?

probably because the TTC doesn't have anything that would require it as fare media

 

[Voltz]

probably because the TTC doesn't have anything that would require it as fare media

Using barcoded transfers and single ride tickets would have been a good idea, since they don't rely on presto.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Using barcoded transfers and single ride tickets would have been a good idea, since they don't rely on presto.

Which they decided not to do and instead use tickets that use the presto readers. I don't really see why they would need to have them. I wonder how many people actually use paper transfers now compared to presto cards? Also with the changes being made to the gates and the new readers on the buses and streetcars coming there will be the ability to use credit cards and debit cards either with a physical card or on your phone or smartwatch using one of the digital wallet apps. What needs to happen next though is that Metrolinx needs to make presto cards available in your digital wallet like other transit agencies have done.

 

[mind_the_gap]

I’d just like to ask then, why did the TTC spend money on new readers with barcode scanners for the bus and streetcar fleets, but not implement the same capability on their perfectly capable subway faregates while doing the upgrade?

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

I’d just like to ask then, why did the TTC spend money on new readers with barcode scanners for the bus and streetcar fleets, but not implement the same capability on their perfectly capable subway faregates while doing the upgrade?

The TTC doesn't own the ones on the buses and streetcars they are supplied by Metrolinx. The TTC owns the faregates in the stations though. Presumably the barcode reader on the ones on the buses and streetcars have that function disabled because they have no function on the TTC.

 

[Amare]

So we're on what now, the 3rd generation of PRESTO readers in the past ~14 years? My goodness this is the system that just keeps not giving, Accenture has done wonders in fleecing Metrolinx.

Make no mistake the system has improved, but one wonders why some of these capabilities werent available (but just disabled) on previous generations and cant just be updates via a software change.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

So we're on what now, the 3rd generation of PRESTO readers in the past ~14 years? My goodness this is the system that just keeps not giving, Accenture has done wonders in fleecing Metrolinx.

Make no mistake the system has improved, but one wonders why some of these capabilities werent available (but just disabled) on previous generations and cant just be updates via a software change.

They probably got cheap equipment at the beginning that couldn't process all of the transactions that they needed to. Don't forget we still don't have everything in real time and have the silly 24 hours between things done on the website or on some buses before things get updated.

 

[littlewill1166]

They probably got cheap equipment at the beginning that couldn't process all of the transactions that they needed to. Don't forget we still don't have everything in real time and have the silly 24 hours between things done on the website or on some buses before things get updated.

The Thales and S&B readers are 2-3x more expensive than the Famoco readers. The readers are replaced every 2-3 years because of wear and tear anyways. The S&B readers were rolled out around the time the iPhone 6 came out, iPhone 4 for the Thales readers.