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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

Jonny5 said:
TTC riders being charged for impossible trips on Mississauga Transit.
This is more than some random GPS error. It's bizarre PRESTO can't reconcile a tap to which transit agency you are even using.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/presto-users-mischarged-gps-location-1.5357762
Click to expand...

It's actually the new TTC fleet of TARDIS (or is it TARDISES) with their chameleon circuits set to make them look like buses. The time circuits are not working properly though, taking jumps longer than expected.

 
Jonny5 said:
TTC riders being charged for impossible trips on Mississauga Transit.
This is more than some random GPS error. It's bizarre PRESTO can't reconcile a tap to which transit agency you are even using.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/presto-users-mischarged-gps-location-1.5357762
Click to expand...

It's not about the wrong transit agency. It's the special case of the handful of double fare routes operating outside of Toronto - the 52 Lawrence West being one of those routes. It deducts a MiWay fare because that's where the extra fare really goes. And, they've only recently started doing that with Presto. So, it still is just a GPS error - just a wild one that results in a double fare.

The GPS is often wrong, but I've never bothered because it rarely matters because it's always in the same city. (I don't expect it to be perfect with the location with so many stops but sometimes even the approximate location is kilometres away)


I've never heard of this happening with Go though, which is much more GPS reliant for their buses.
 
I was just in Auckland, where their fare card system reminded me of Presto. 24 hours before your balance is loaded, and a $10 cost for the card itself vs. $6 for Presto. Unlike Presto though, finding somewhere to reload your card is much more difficult if you need to top it up immediately, and no going into negatives when you need that one ride. Also took noticeably longer for a tap to register on a fare reader, meaning slow boarding/de-boarding of buses.

It even initially had a 25 cent fee for topping up your card. Similar situation as Presto, where Auckland Transit partnered with Thales to develop their own system. No plans to incorporate open payment on their system like Presto is currently working towards though.

I guess we can be happy we don't have the worst system out there?
 
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Tuscani01 said:
I was just in Auckland, where their fare card system reminded me of Presto. 24 hours before your balance is loaded, and a $10 cost for the card itself vs. $6 for Presto. Unlike Presto though, finding somewhere to reload your card is much more difficult if you need to top it up immediately, and no going into negatives when you need that one ride. Also took noticeably longer for a tap to register on a fare reader, meaning slow boarding/de-boarding of buses.

It even initially had a 25 cent fee for topping up your card. Similar situation as Presto, where Auckland Transit partnered with Thales to develop their own system. No plans to incorporate open payment on their system like Presto is currently working towards though.

I guess we can be happy we don't have the worst system out there?
Click to expand...

Auckland bought a $87M NZD card. I'm not sure the GTA received over 5x the value of what Auckland has received (another 5x is due to much larger coverage).

I would have preferred the Auckland card + East Bayfront LRT (~2010 tender) instead.

Presto V3 (the open-payment machines) ought to be perfectly fine but there was no need to either create it from scratch or learn several expensive lessons along the way due to selecting a vendor with minimal experience in that area. That said, it's a sunk cost now.

Hopefully the MTO Presto people (now Metrolinx) won't get into medicine; I prefer buying off-the-shelf MRI machines instead of trying to roll our own over 15 years at 5x the price.
 
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rbt said:
Auckland bought a $87M NZD card. I'm not sure the GTA received over 5x the value of what Auckland has received (another 5x is due to much larger coverage).

I would have preferred the Auckland card + East Bayfront LRT (~2010 tender) instead.

Presto V3 (the open-payment machines) ought to be perfectly fine but there was no need to either create it from scratch or learn several expensive lessons along the way due to selecting a vendor with minimal experience in that area. That said, it's a sunk cost now.

Hopefully the MTO Presto people (now Metrolinx) won't get into medicine; I prefer buying off-the-shelf MRI machines instead of trying to roll our own over 15 years at 5x the price.
Click to expand...

I mean, sure, but the Metrolinx does have 5x more municipalities using the card, and a much larger userbase than AT HOP. AT HOP also took 7 years of development to get to where it is today and wasn't an off the shelf solution for them either.
 
Tuscani01 said:
I mean, sure, but the Metrolinx does have 5x more municipalities using the card, and a much larger userbase than AT HOP.
Click to expand...

I actually accounted for that, which is why it's 5x and not 12x. Presto's total bill is over $1B between provincial subsidies, capital/deployment payments made by transit organizations, and TTC startup costs.

AT HOP ... wasn't an off the shelf solution for them either.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that. I guess "Not Invented Here" syndrome isn't exclusive to Ontario.
 
I'm recently back from a week in Ottawa, and I must say that Presto there seems like a slightly advanced version of ours. Better readers that display balances upon tap was one nice feature.

Also, my GTHA Presto card worked flawlessly on OC Transpo which was super nice.
 
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