Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[steveintoronto]

If using a website is beyond your level of technology then you should maybe consult with your closet know teenager to help you out with it,

Your implication is beyond you. All the complaints on-line? They're by people who obviously know how to use the internet. Try and take the logic from there. Feel free to consult a 'closet' teenager...

Presto also has 100% reliability if you ignore everything that can make it fail.

Brilliant! You've just declared the Hindenburg as the most successful flying machine to make a spectacle of itself.

Hence why I say Presto still requires a degree of technical competence for users to be able to use it reliably.

It also requires quite a degree of intuition to figure out what in hell the designers were thinking so as to allow you to perform a series of logical steps the machine itself doesn't volunteer.

Of course, some posters would consider the machines to be 100% reliable if they do nothing, as they'd do that reliably 100% of the time. I see a great future for same persons in PR. Bit late to save the Edsel though...

 

[books]

I wouldn't expect people with low to average levels of technical competency to find the system easy to use.

My ex-wife once told me that I'm a complete f&@king idiot who couldn't change a light bulb if my life depended on it and yet I've been using Presto with no problems for the last two and a half months. It's a new system for TTC users and once you understand the rules it's easy and very convenient. I've created an online account and I track my usage and my balance and everything is fine. Last week I was taking the 510 Spadina when the streetcar I was on was short turned, I got off and waited for the next streetcar, tapped on and when I checked my account Presto registered that as a transfer, no problem!

The reliability of the Presto machines on the streetcars seems to have improved as well. The downtime of the fare machines at streetcar stops is another matter, but that's not Presto related, that's another story.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Can I used my TTC-issued Presto card on GoTrain and Mississauga Transit bus? I was thinking to trying to get to work near Hurontario and QEW via GoTrain.

 

[DSC]

Can I used my TTC-issued Presto card on GoTrain and Mississauga Transit bus? I was thinking to trying to get to work near Hurontario and QEW via GoTrain.

Yes, works in Ottawa too.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

If it's not entirely clear to you, due to the poor UX design, that ordeal required the end user to troubleshoot errors in Presto's self-loading machines, otherwise they'd be unable to reload and stranded. Hence why I say Presto still requires a degree of technical competence for users to be able to use it reliably.

I agree the machines do need some work but they aren't that bad.

 

[nfitz]

The downtime of the fare machines at streetcar stops is another matter, but that's not Presto related, that's another story.

Presto is actually responsible for those machine too; but as they don't take Presto cards, they fly below the radar.

Presto was very quick to call them Presto machine when they first introduced them - and took much ribbing, as they didn't take Presto.

It's interesting that none have appeared on any routes except 509/510 yet. They were supposed to appear on all routes.

 

[amnesiajune]

Presto is actually responsible for those machine too; but as they don't take Presto cards, they fly below the radar.

I don't think Presto is responsible for the machines themselves. They only take care of the card reader that's used to print out transfers (but the TTC also has some responsibility for those). The machines on streetcars, just like the machines at stops on Queen's Quay and Spadina, are the TTC's responsibility.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I agree the machines do need some work but they aren't that bad.

If reloading machines going down without providing any indication that they are down isn't "that bad", then what does qualify as "that bad" in your world?

 

[nfitz]

I don't think Presto is responsible for the machines themselves. They only take care of the card reader that's used to print out transfers (but the TTC also has some responsibility for those). The machines on streetcars, just like the machines at stops on Queen's Quay and Spadina, are the TTC's responsibility.

I don't believe you are correct.

And why then did Presto call them "PRESTOcard machines when they first appeared? They went on to say "As part of the PRESTO rollout we are also delivering off board fare payment.You can't reload here,it's for tokens & cash".

 

[Megaton327]

It's interesting that none have appeared on any routes except 509/510 yet. They were supposed to appear on all routes.

There is one on Bathurst at the northbound stop at College, and I believe also one at the northbound stop at Carr. But yes, they are conspicuously absent as a whole--I don't believe there are any on 514, even at the newly constructed Cherry ROW stops or even Distillery Loop, nor any on 512 though I'm not up there frequently to check.

 

[cplchanb]

I don't believe you are correct.

And why then did Presto call them "PRESTOcard machines when they first appeared? They went on to say "As part of the PRESTO rollout we are also delivering off board fare payment.You can't reload here,it's for tokens & cash".
View attachment 121436

this may be the result of a poorly written tweet. i can see nothing here that has anything to do with presto. i am surprised that they are still rolling out token machines. i thought they were capping new installations
and phasing them out. why waste the extra time to remove and reprogram when its already known it would happen shortly???

 

[Tuscani01]

So last night I discovered that you can tap two people into Union Station with a single Presto Card. I was with someone who lost her card and had no cash, and I just had Presto. I simply asked if it was possible and the collector said yes and walked me to the single reader that allowed for a second tap - in all of the TTC apparently. I tapped the first reader, and then tapped on the second one and it deducted a fare for each tap without issue.

Edit: Just looked at my balance and it was actually just counted as a transfer. Weird.

 

[cplchanb]

So last night I discovered that you can tap two people into Union Station with a single Presto Card. I was with someone who lost her card and had no cash, and I just had Presto. I simply asked if it was possible and the collector said yes and walked me to the single reader that allowed for a second tap - in all of the TTC apparently. I tapped the first reader, and then tapped on the second one and it deducted a fare for each tap without issue.

this is probably a temporary loophole. once they figure out fare by zone/distance theyll need to close this as there will be tap off

 

[Megaton327]

Yeah, if it's a standalone reader, not one of the turnstile ones, I bet they didn't have it set up properly wired to the station's network. Definitely a loophole.

 

[nfitz]

this may be the result of a poorly written tweet. i can see nothing here that has anything to do with presto. i am surprised that they are still rolling out token machines. i thought they were capping new installations
and phasing them out. why waste the extra time to remove and reprogram when its already known it would happen shortly???

TTC subcontracted to Metrolinx to install the new fare system. This includes the machines at station stops. (the new faregates were a later TTC-funded add-on).

Read section 3.1.3.4 of the Presto-TTC Master Agreement (December 2012) about "Off-Board SRVMs (Single Ride Vending Machines), starting on page 190 (of 650). - http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/presto/Executed_PRESTO-TTC_-_Master_Agreement.pdf

It starts out by saying that:

Off-board SRVMs are PRESTO Devices that allow Customers to purchase a LUM Single or Return trip that is used as Proof Of Payment. Customers may pay for their LUM using either coins or Credit/Debit bank cards. SRVMs do not provide change.​

LUM is limited-use media - i.e. the tickets they use now, and the paper single-use Presto tickets they'll have eventually.

So indeed, it is a Presto device, that doesn't take Presto cards. It sells tickets.