Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[nfitz]

... the bus is cheaper at £1.50 a ride

Though that is the Oyster fare (about CAN$2.80). If you want to pay cash - you are out of luck though you can buy a one day pass for £5 ($9.40) - or use daily rate capping, which caps out at £4.50 ($8.45)

Though none of these let you in the tube. If you want to add in a short tube trip, it starts at £4.90 cash ($9.20) (or £2.40 with Oyster - $4.50) and can go as high as £8.50 cash ($14.10) and £7 ($13.15) with Oyster, depending how far you travel. It can be even higher if use use rail.

 

[David Brake]

Keep in mind @nfitz is talking about rates for a given travel zone in London - travel outside of zone 2 and you will have a different rate cap. But in my experience the peace of mind of the rate cap is key. You know when using Oystercard that you are always paying less than cash and also building towards a cap after which you can travel however you like for free for the rest of the day.

 

[David Brake]

Also, you pay differently if you can make all your journeys off-peak (something else that presumably the TTC could consider though I don't recall it being talked about recently in fare discussions). Looking at https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless/what-is-capping and https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares confirms that the London prices are a lot higher than @mfitz recollects - if all you do is travel in zone one and two off-peak you are still looking at £6.50/$12.30). So next time you want to complain about what the TTC charges...

(I lived in London until 2014...)

 

[NotMathematical]

Off topic, but it seems Main Street Station's PRESTO only gates are now active.
Source: getpres.to

 

[Tuscani01]

Anyone know if work has begun at Sherbourne yet?

 

[kotsy]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/03/23/ttc-installs-first-presto-fare-gate.html

 

[Megaton327]

Apparently they are "active" but still being tested, so functionality may be intermittent. They'll make a wider announcement once it's fully live.

 

[W. K. Lis]

TTC website has a link to a map showing the PRESTO enabled subway stations, at this link.

 

[gweed123]

Interesting that Kennedy is the only terminus (not including McCowan, since the defacto terminus for the SRT is STC), and the only station adjacent to a GO station that isn't Presto-enabled.

 

[gweed123]

As an aside, and after looking at the TTC's rollout schedule, is there any plan to have a kind of "kiosk" set up at these stations for the first few days of Presto operation in order to sell Presto cards?

I was living in Ottawa for OC Transpo's Presto launch, and for the whole couple weeks before and a week or two after they had tents set up at busy transfer stations (it was summer), where they were giving away free Presto cards, complete with an information package on what Presto was, how to load your card, etc.

I just think that if the TTC had a roaming crew that was able to set up at subway stations with the new fare gates, either selling Presto cards or giving them away, or even just there to answer questions about Presto, I think that would really help on the customer service front. I know the TTC has ticket booth people, but they're often busy with other stuff, and may not have the in-depth knowledge of Presto to answer a lot of questions.

 

[nfitz]

No. It's still a soft launch.

 

[Megaton327]

As an aside, and after looking at the TTC's rollout schedule, is there any plan to have a kind of "kiosk" set up at these stations for the first few days of Presto operation in order to sell Presto cards?

I was living in Ottawa for OC Transpo's Presto launch, and for the whole couple weeks before and a week or two after they had tents set up at busy transfer stations (it was summer), where they were giving away free Presto cards, complete with an information package on what Presto was, how to load your card, etc.

I just think that if the TTC had a roaming crew that was able to set up at subway stations with the new fare gates, either selling Presto cards or giving them away, or even just there to answer questions about Presto, I think that would really help on the customer service front. I know the TTC has ticket booth people, but they're often busy with other stuff, and may not have the in-depth knowledge of Presto to answer a lot of questions.

No. It's still a soft launch.

I believe in the longer-term, once more/most subway stations and some buses take Presto and the transition is starting in earnest, they will likely make more of the current Metropass Vending Machines into Presto Card Vending Machines. They already have them at Union and Queen's Park--the reconfiguration is very simple, empty one of the card dispensers inside the machine and refill it with Presto cards, edit the UI to list that as a $20 card with $14 loaded value, and slap a giant Presto sticker on it. Done.

Seems fairly simple to start doing this at collector booths too--give them a stack of Presto cards loaded with $14, sell them for an even $20, no need for the whole custom-load setup you get when buying them from GO or at Davisville with the RFID computer terminal to access the card, just do the same dumb transaction style of sale for a flat $20. Nice and easy, the logistics/costs of rolling this out to all collectors must be fairly minimal given the existing distribution channels for metropasses which are the same size/type of transaction.

I think starting this off around September 2016, and going until a month or so after tokens/tickets/passes are abandoned, is as close to a perfect solution as possible to provide Presto sale opportunities to as many of the system's regular/semi-regular riders as possible. Of course, it's of limited value to people who solely use buses or streetcars, but I'd imagine the vast majority of the TTC's semi-regular customers interface with the subway at least once a week or once a month, even. Maybe in a more limited fashion also send a smaller number of cards to most or all of the TTC's authorized fare media sellers that are located farther from the subway so that those riders have local purchase opportunities.

 

[SFO-YYZ]

I think starting this off around September 2016, and going until a month or so after tokens/tickets/passes are abandoned, is as close to a perfect solution as possible to provide Presto sale opportunities to as many of the system's regular/semi-regular riders as possible. Of course, it's of limited value to people who solely use buses or streetcars, but I'd imagine the vast majority of the TTC's semi-regular customers interface with the subway at least once a week or once a month, even. Maybe in a more limited fashion also send a smaller number of cards to most or all of the TTC's authorized fare media sellers that are located farther from the subway so that those riders have local purchase opportunities.

All streetcars, old and new, are as of now Presto-enabled. Every single one. All TTC buses will be Presto-enabled by end of 2016. Very soon, if you want to use TTC, it will be Presto or nothing.

 

[Megaton327]

All streetcars, old and new, are as of now Presto-enabled. Every single one. All TTC buses will be Presto-enabled by end of 2016. Very soon, if you want to use TTC, it will be Presto or nothing.

Sorry, I think you misunderstood me--my post was regarding selling Presto cards to commuters, and the part you've bolded is referring to the Pass Vending Machines in subway stations were they to be equipped with preloaded Presto cards, universally. My point being that some riders who solely use buses or streetcars and don't enter the subway regularly don't encounter PVMs or collectors on a regular basis.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

I think what they should do is have away thath Metropass holders can put their pass onto a presto card either buy just mailing the subscribers one with their pass on it along with the next months pass and for those thath buy them at sations or elsewhere maybe allow them to input the pass number into the preto website to add it to their card. That way they could have metropass holders using them so they can get an ida of how many of them will switch to them.