Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

[DSC]

The TTC has just posted this Tender Call:

TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION
REQUEST FOR PRE-QUALIFICATION STATEMENTS
Open standards-based fare payment system
REFERENCE NO.: R39PN10871
Date Posted:
Monday, August 9, 2010



Submission Closing Date:
4:00 p.m., Friday, September 10, 2010

Submittals will be received at the address noted below



Submittal requirements:
Provide one (1) original and six (6) copies in separate envelopes, sealed and marked “Pre-Qualification for the “Open Standards-Based Fare Payment System, Reference No. r39pn10871”



Addenda Issued to Date:
None



Description of the Work:
The Toronto Transit Commission is soliciting from interested parties a Request For Pre-Qualification (RFPQ) for the funding, acquisition, installation, operation, repair, and maintenance of a new, open standards-based fare payment system.



Document Pick Up:
Document is available electronically. To have the PDF file e-mailed to you, please provide your Company name & address, Contact name, Telephone & Fax no., and e-mail address to:




E-mail:
alicia.walters@ttc.ca




Phone:
(416) 393-2143




Pick up and Submittal address:
Documents can also be picked up and the completed Pre-qualification package shall be dropped off at the address noted below:

Materials and Procurement

Project Procurement Section



5160 Yonge Street, 6th Floor



Toronto, Ontario M2N 6L9

 

[Jonny5]

Disability rights activist calls for shutdown of Presto

August 11, 2010

Amy Dempsey

The man who brought you talking transit stops is now taking on the Presto smart card system.

Disability rights activist David Lepofsky is calling on the Ontario government to shut down Presto until what he says are barriers to visually impaired and dyslexic people are removed.

Sighted Presto users can view their card balance on a screen as they tap the card reader when boarding a train or bus, or at a subway turnstile. The machines beep when successfully tapped, but there is no audio option to check the balance.

Lepofsky says the failure to include an audio option contradicts the goals of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and violates human rights obligations.

“We are talking about the government creating new barriers against people with disabilities,” says Lepofsky, a blind lawyer who led the campaign to force TTC drivers to call out all stops.

“We have enough problems with old barriers, like steps down the subway stations that were built 50 years ago.

“Now we’re talking about them using our tax money to build new barriers into new technology that could have been prevented.”

Presto executive director Ernie Wallace says the new tap system is far more accessible than a token or cash one. Wallace says the alternatives — an audible balance announcement via speaker or plug-in — weren’t deemed viable.

“It makes no sense . . . both from a safety and privacy viewpoint, to get voice-activated plug-in pins at a TTC gate,” he says. “It just operationally doesn’t work. You can’t have the gate stopped or the device stopped in the middle of rush hour.”

Wallace points out that visually impaired transit users can check their balance online or by phone. But Lepofsky says they should be able to get their balance as they enter, “just like everyone else.”

Katherine King, spokeswoman for Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne, said the Presto system meets current accessibility standards.

“Presto has been working with an Accessibility Advisory Group, including representatives from the visually impaired community, as the Presto card was developed.

“Now that the devices are in service, Presto has been soliciting feedback on using the devices in the real transit environment,” she said, adding that consultation will continue as the system moves forward.

 

[DavidH]

So because Presto doesn't perfectly meet everyone's needs, it shouldn't be available to anyone - despite the fact that no one is being forced to use it, at least yet.

 

[CDL.TO]

Visually impaired people ride the TTC for free with a valid CNIB card or with a Metropass provided by the CNIB.

I'm not sure about GO, however.

EDIT: One reference I found states that CNIB cardholders get half-price GO (child fare, I guess). Will this arrangement even be compatible with PRESTO or any other fare card system?

 

[nfitz]

So because Presto doesn't perfectly meet everyone's needs, it shouldn't be available to anyone - despite the fact that no one is being forced to use it, at least yet.

It does seem asinine though, that they designed a new system, that doesn't have a speaker that would simply give a vocal version of the display screen for those who are visually impaired (which could presumably be marked on each card, so that the sound doesn't go off for every user).

I'd have thought the expense of doing this, would be far less than retrofitting the GPS and announcement system on 2,000 TTC vehicles, that was done a few years ago.

Anyone designing such a scheme would have been aware of the court rulings on the stop announcements, and this was inevitable.

Obviously, they won't be turning off Presto while they fix this, but presumably they will have to fix this before they roll out to TTC.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It does seem asinine though, that they designed a new system, that doesn't have a speaker that would simply give a vocal version of the display screen for those who are visually impaired (which could presumably be marked on each card, so that the sound doesn't go off for every user).

I'd have thought the expense of doing this, would be far less than retrofitting the GPS and announcement system on 2,000 TTC vehicles, that was done a few years ago.

Anyone designing such a scheme would have been aware of the court rulings on the stop announcements, and this was inevitable.

Obviously, they won't be turning off Presto while they fix this, but presumably they will have to fix this before they roll out to TTC.

The TTC, through the CNIB, has been free for the visually impaired since 1922. It a non-issue.

 

[nfitz]

The TTC, through the CNIB, has been free for the visually impaired since 1922. It a non-issue.

Though apparently not all transit systems using Presto are free.

Where are the criteria laid out? Surely one has to have a specific degree of visual impairment before one gets free transit.

 

[waterloowarrior]

Where are the criteria laid out? Surely one has to have a specific degree of visual impairment before one gets free transit.

The CNIB ID Card:

Eligibility
Any Canadian who is legally blind and registered for CNIB services: in other words, someone with a visual acuity of 6/60 or 20/200 or less, or who has a field of vision of 20 degrees or less, in their best eye, after correction.

 

[nfitz]

The CNIB ID Card:

Eligibility
Any Canadian who is legally blind and registered for CNIB services: in other words, someone with a visual acuity of 6/60 or 20/200 or less, or who has a field of vision of 20 degrees or less, in their best eye, after correction.

Seems to me that leaves a lot of not quite legally blind people who'd never be able to read those display screens.

 

[SlickFranky]

It also leaves out extremely short people, people with neck braces (who can't bend over to look at the screen), people who were recently maced/pepper-sprayed, people who can't read arabic numerals (ancient greeks for example)......

 

[nfitz]

It also leaves out extremely short people ...

How? The displays are very low ... I think even my 2-year old could read it ... if she could read. Could you provide more detail?

Or are you just making fun on the disabled?

 

[Dan416]

How? The displays are very low ... I think even my 2-year old could read it ... if she could read. Could you provide more detail?

Or are you just making fun on the disabled?

If anything GO discriminates against tall people. The TVMs are far too low for me. I can't read what's on the screen unless I bend down. And I'm only 6 feet. There's a lot of people taller than I am.

 

[SlickFranky]

How? The displays are very low ... I think even my 2-year old could read it ... if she could read. Could you provide more detail?

Or are you just making fun on the disabled?

Yeah, I was making fun of the disabled....or maybe I was mocking your expectation that everyone can be served. What about the deaf and blind, or the technophobes, or the teary-eyed bawlers? At some point you have to accept that some people might not be able to make full use of every service on offer.

 

[Urban Dave]

I think it's a good bet that there will be a huge push for the card once the subway is extended into Vaughan, making it happen within a year or two. Sadly I think there's a very slim chance that it will ever happen before that time. I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[nfitz]

Yeah, I was making fun of the disabled....or maybe I was mocking your expectation that everyone can be served. What about the deaf and blind, or the technophobes, or the teary-eyed bawlers? At some point you have to accept that some people might not be able to make full use of every service on offer.

You were mocking the expectation that there be services for the blind!

Good grief, do you tip over people in wheel chairs for encores?