Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[MafaldaBoy]

Official Presto launch date on YRT/Viva is March 28th. {It seems to me that YRT will be the first agency to fully implement Presto on the whole system. I could be wrong, but are there any others that will/have Presto fully implemented by March 28?}

Update with the installation of Presto readers:

4 Presto readers are about to be installed outside at the Viva machine at Finch.
1 Presto reader is about to be installed at Promenade and is located in between the two current Viva machines.

Will people be able to purchase the card and register it for YRT before or on that day?

 

[nfitz]

Official Presto launch date on YRT/Viva is March 28th. {It seems to me that YRT will be the first agency to fully implement Presto on the whole system. I could be wrong, but are there any others that will/have Presto fully implemented by March 28?}

I believe that's almost 11 months after both Burlington Transit and Oakville Transit fully implemented Presto.

Will people be able to purchase the card and register it for YRT before or on that day?

Cards have been available for purchase for almost a year. There's no YRT-specific registration that's required. Not sure if passes will be available or not, but if your just paying single fares, then I don't see what you'd need to do other than use your card.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Will people be able to purchase the card and register it for YRT before or on that day?

So far I've heard that York Region headquarters on High Tech Rd will be issuing them, but other places haven't been announced yet.

I believe that's almost 11 months after both Burlington Transit and Oakville Transit fully implemented Presto.

Cards have been available for purchase for almost a year. There's no YRT-specific registration that's required. Not sure if passes will be available or not, but if your just paying single fares, then I don't see what you'd need to do other than use your card.

Well I haven't really followed with Presto that much; I've only really started following it when YRT has started the installation of the system.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I believe they've said they will be selling the 10-ticket things as a unit to start with, on Presto - as opposed to allowing you add individual fares. They'll start doing the monthly passes and other stuff in a few months. I'm sure there'll be a full court press as it gets closer to launch. People already using Presto probably don't realize what a mystery it is to the rest of the GTA...

 

[nfitz]

I believe they've said they will be selling the 10-ticket things as a unit to start with, on Presto - as opposed to allowing you add individual fares.

Why would you sell 10-ticket things on Presto? All the other agencies just let you use the cash on your card for individual fares, at the 10-ticket (or 5-ticket) rate.

Last thing I want to see is going down the Montreal road, where you've got the card, but you still have to go to each agency to buy tickets before you can actually use it.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I dunno. This could just be administrative semantics. I guess the idea is, at least to start, you'll be able to purchase the $26 "packets" and deduct from there but you could be right that they'll let you put whatever you want on and then bill you $2.60 per ride. We'll know soon enough.

 

[nfitz]

I dunno. This could just be administrative semantics. I guess the idea is, at least to start, you'll be able to purchase the $26 "packets" and deduct from there but you could be right that they'll let you put whatever you want on and then bill you $2.60 per ride. We'll know soon enough.

We already know that you can put any amount on to the card. York Region's website says that the appropriate fare would be deducted from the card's stored value.

What's leading you to think that York Region would use such an oddball structure unlike any other Presto system? Perhaps I've missed something that's out there.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Fares being paid on YRT/Viva with a Presto card will be charged the equivalent of one ticket ($2.60). Cash fares will still be $3.25

 

[Ed Drass]

So, the current Presto norm is to charge the "bulk" fare for individual trips -- i.e. tapping Presto at TTC stations costs me $2.50 for each ride, even if I put only $5 on the card. Is there anything to indicate these bulk rates are somehow an introductory offer, to promote card adoption by riders?

Other systems have moved to reduce discounts once cards become widespread -- which, of course, ain't happening until TTC decides what it's going to do, and how it's going to pay for a full rollout of new technology.

 

[Ed Drass]

TfL's Oyster to accept contactless bank card payments by 2012

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-02/24/tfl-contactless-card-payment-2012

 

[Ed Drass]

NYPost: Hustlers wreak havoc in subway stations

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gate_crashin_the_subways_jNx437qEJAjtyslzn7KgHJ

MetroCard mayhem has hit the MTA.

Vandals and swipe-selling scammers are increasingly wreaking havoc with subway MetroCard machines, and the criminals -- some of whom are gang members -- have become more menacing, according to MTA statistics and transit workers.

A mob recently confronted Brooklyn transit workers and threatened to "slice them up," union sources said.

"It's like the Thunderdome in some stations," one worker said.

"Some are Crips, and some are Bloods," said one worker, describing the situation at the Utica Avenue stations along the A, C and 3 lines in Brooklyn.

"I fear for the riding public. It's dangerous."

Swipers, as the hustlers are called, commonly jam the bill slot in MetroCard machines to force riders to buy a "swipe" to get past the turnstile.

They charge anywhere from $1 to $2. The fare is $2.50.

They exploit flaws in discarded cards that allow someone to get through after repeatedly swiping it, or they charge people to go through a service gate, transit workers said.

At the Fordham Road D station in The Bronx yesterday, The Post found several busted MetroCard machines unable to accept bills -- and swipers more than willing to help out.

"I'll let you in. Give me $2. Come on," one man muttered.

According to the NYPD, the number of "swiper" arrests in recent months has doubled. Cops nabbed 148 swipers in January -- twice the 74 they grabbed in December 2010.

Meanwhile, MetroCard machines are being vandalized at a furious clip.

In Brooklyn, vandals at the Utica Avenue station that serves the 3 and 4 trains broke machines 198 times in December alone -- second only to Nostrand Avenue, where vandals took out 228 Metrocard machines, according to MTA data requested by The Post.

"Addressing the problem of vandals and swipers in the system is one of the areas where we work very closely with the NYPD," said MTA spokesman Charles Seaton.

The MTA didn't provide annual figures on vandalism damage, but maintenance logs from last April show incidents were up 26 percent from the prior year. There were 7,091 vandalism reports in April 2010 compared with 5,620 in April 2009.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gate_crashin_the_subways_jNx437qEJAjtyslzn7KgHJ#ixzz1FGNMNnad

 

[yyzhyd]

They've begun work to install Presto readers at Unionville GO Station.
So it seems the planned Spring 2011 roll-out date was pretty accurate.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

YRT is starting a massive blitz campaign in the coming weeks educating and notifying the public about the Presto launch on March 28. There will be staff and locations where passengers can receive their Presto cards with the $6 fee waived.

 

[DavidH]

For what it's worth, Presto will become the third operating division (after GO and Air Rail Link) of Metrolinx by the end of the year. Metrolinx is starting the process of transitioning Presto from its current status as an MTO effort.

 

[nfitz]

We probably didn't need it - but more proof that Presto is run by morons.

I got an e-mail asking me to take a survey.

One of the questions:

And, please indicate if you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about the PRESTO card registration process.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Don't know
The card registration process was easy

Note the lack of indication if 1 is agree or disagree.

Which means the results of the survey will be meaningless ...