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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

Re: farecard

So despite the provincial funding, the TTC is refusing to participate. The GTTA really isn't going to accomplish much if Toronto isn't included in their initiatives. This will be a big improvement for the rest of the GTA. Will it mean the introduction of fare gates at GO stations?
 
Re: farecard

Will it mean the introduction of fare gates at GO stations?
Click to expand...

It might mean the re-introduction of fare gates to be precise!
 
Re: farecard

So despite the provincial funding, the TTC is refusing to participate.
Click to expand...

My understanding was the provinces funding was capped. So long as the City of Toronto is on the hook for cost overruns of installation of a provincially selected system, it is appropriate for them to opt-out.
 
Star: Mississauga to test smart fare card

Link to article

Fare card tested for GTA transit


Single pass will let passengers use GO Transit, Mississauga Transit and TTC at Union Station
Mar 08, 2007 04:30 AM
Tess Kalinowski
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

No swiping, no scanning, no more transfers and no more ticket lines.

Just a quick tap of the card on a reader and commuters will be cleared to climb aboard virtually any transit system in the Toronto area.

Okay, full implementation is still about five years off. But yesterday Mississauga Transit offered a preview of the transferable fare card it will begin testing in July. It's the prototype for a fare system that's considered the lynchpin in creating seamless public transit from Burlington to Oshawa.

Starting this summer, Mississauga Transit will recruit about 500 passengers to try the system that will allow them to board Mississauga Transit buses, GO Transit and the TTC at Union Station, all with one pass.

Riders tap the prepaid card, embedded with a computer chip, on a reader. The fare is automatically deducted.

Because Mississauga has a neighbourhood shuttle service in Meadowvale and Cooksville to ferry passengers to GO Transit, officials say it's the perfect environment to test the fare system.

The fact that the cards work on multiple transit systems is only one of their advantages. Registered users will be able to reload the value of lost cards within about 24 hours.

The cards are expected to be available at transit depots and retail outlets, and commuters will be able to load them online. A feature allows more value to be added before the card runs out.

The card will let you board for the lowest available fare and will have a loyalty program offering savings to frequent travellers, said Sonia Mathur of Accenture Inc., which was awarded a 10-year $250 million contract to design and maintain the system by the province.

Mississauga Transit expects to have the card fully phased in by 2009. Burlington and Oakville will test it next year. The only GTA transit authority that hasn't fully signed on is the TTC.
 
GTA Fare Card

The infrastructure for the trial of the GTA farecard between Mississauga and Union station has been installed! There are card readers set up by the GO ticket counters at union and one at the TTC entrance.

These readers are currently wrapped up. Does anyone know when they will start using the cards?
 
Interesting that the trial they are running will include the TTC, when the TTC hasn't agreed to the card in the first place. I'll have to look around and see if I can see the Presto card readers at Union when I go home from work today.

I like the name. Not sure if I like the colour scheme, though.

Greg
 
Presto's fine for the name. Whether on purpose or not, it continues our 'everything Toronto-related must end in -TO' mania. The green would match GO's green if all the stripes were averaged out.
 
I only wish MT was still running the GM Artics.

The hyperbole is too much though: "It's the only way we'll have efficient rapid transit in the GTA," Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion said.

Politicans seem to think that this is the greatest thing, while there's almost nothing for the user, besides registration. Where's the fare integration? Paying 2 or 3 full fares only using one card is not fare integration! Does that make each retailer integrated because they all take a Visa card?
 
SeanTrans said:
I only wish MT was still running the GM Artics.

The hyperbole is too much though: "It's the only way we'll have efficient rapid transit in the GTA," Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion said.

Politicans seem to think that this is the greatest thing, while there's almost nothing for the user, besides registration. Where's the fare integration? Paying 2 or 3 full fares only using one card is not fare integration! Does that make each retailer integrated because they all take a Visa card?
Click to expand...

Almost nothing?? You don't think it is much more convenient not have to constantly use 2-3 different types of tickets, tokens, passes, transfers? GO riders to longer have to carry around 50 cents?
 
Not for what taxpayers are shelling out to Arthur Andersen, er, Accenture, for. It's not integration, it's not the "only way to make transit efficient", it's not a major improvment for the 85% or so of GO riders who drive their cars to the GO station and march through the PATH each morning or get dropped off at York U, and don't make transit connections. Real fare integration (and I don't mean one $2.75 ride across the 905) might make these conenctions more enticing. Translink does this well, even Montreal has fare integration (called the TRAM card and the AMT zone system). London's fare system integrates bus, tram, Underground and even regional rail, even outside the six TfL zones.

Until there's not the punitive full fare for crossing a political boundary, or paying a full fare to take the TTC to GO, then no, I don't see the big deal, though the Ontario government and McCallion make it sound like some revolutionary thing.

Now, if the card was touted for rewarding inter-network trips by giving discounts for making a single journey using multiple systems (say when deducting both a MT and a TTC fare crediting $0.50 or $0.75 back) and allowing reduced fares on all systems to and from GO (TTC and HSR do not have any fare integration), restructuring GO’s archaic “fare by distance” zone system that is very unfair for many origin-destination pairs, or even computing the best fare by monthy usage (so if I use a system enough, it gives me the best price, be it a ticket price or a pass-based price, then I’d be very happy, but none of these advantages of a smart card system are talked about.

Sure, it’d be more convenient if you took the MT bus to the GO station to the TTC, but apart from that, what’s in it for you? There’s no reward, no advantage apart from having one extra card in your pocket and less change.
 
How is it going to work for GO Trains?

Arn't most of the commutters using monthly or 10 ticket passes?
Are you still going to need to cancel a ride, or something.
 
The GO train question is handled in the USE IT section...

When to tap
You always need to “tap on†when you begin your transit trip. To “tap on,†you gently touch your Presto card to the card reader located at the transit vehicle door or in the station to pay your transit fare. For many of the trips you make, tapping the card reader when you first board will be enough, and you won’t need to present your card again.

GO Train commuters will have regular origin and destination fares stored on the Presto card. If you are taking that regular trip, you only have to tap on – no tap off is required. If you do not have a regular origin and destination stored on your fare card, or if you are not taking the regular default trip, you will have to tap on and tap off.

For trips such as interregional bus trips on GO Transit or York Region Transit’s VIVA, you will also need to “tap off†when you leave the vehicle or transit system. You’ll do this when the amount of your fare is based on the distance you’ve travelled.

When I am on the GO Train, how are the inspectors going to check my Presto card?
On GO Transit and VIVA, where proof of payment inspections are done, inspectors will carry hand-held card readers to make sure that passengers have paid the correct fare.
 
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