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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

vic said:
A couple of weekends back, we were on the Kitchener line from Union to Bloor, about 3 quad-seats in from the stairs on the upper level. Fare enforcement didn't even get close to us, as pretty much nobody in the first bunch of quads had paid, so they spent all their time writing them up. No chance in hell they would have made it through the whole train at that rate. heh.
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I haven't seen as much fare inspection since Covid on Lakeshore. But I can't remember many people (if any) getting caught when I've had them going through the train.

As for the quota and rate? They have lots and lots of stats on how many people they catch per inspection, etc. I suspect they've noticed that the stats for certain inspectors are a lot lower than others. I wonder if they can check the taps on their machine versus time of day, and the fails versus fines given.

But 6,000 a month is a lot. Is that really correct? For a 20-day months and 8-hour day, that comes down to writing a ticket every 96 seconds. As I said, on trains when I've seen inspection, they'd easily take 3-4 minutes to walk through the top level - and not get anyone. And if they do, 96 seconds each seems unlikely - the first thing most will do is spend a while searching their pockets for a "card". Heck, I've seen some people take 60 seconds to find their card when they have tapped!
 
many7695 said:
On twitter, presto card replied to a comment that if u have a monthly pass you will not be able to add it digitally to your phone wallet,
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I looked at the answer on twitter and it didn't seem to be worded well. I have a TTC monthly pass on my Presto card and after an update on the app i was able to convert that card to my Google wallet.
 
nfitz said:
But 6,000 a month is a lot. Is that really correct? For a 20-day months and 8-hour day, that comes down to writing a ticket every 96 seconds. As I said, on trains when I've seen inspection, they'd easily take 3-4 minutes to walk through the top level - and not get anyone. And if they do, 96 seconds each seems unlikely - the first thing most will do is spend a while searching their pockets for a "card". Heck, I've seen some people take 60 seconds to find their card when they have tapped!
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I'm pretty sure it's a collective number, not per transit officer. Also, they've apparently surpassed that.

"Metrolinx transit officers surpassed the fine targets both months — issuing 5,121 tickets in September and 6,187 in October, according to the reports. At minimum, if all of the tickets were issued to first-time offenders, the fines add up to $179,235 in September and $216,545 in October."
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many7695 said:
Hmm I have the presto beta installed but never saw anything about apple wallet
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Yeah I’m also in the TestFlight beta, but I don’t see an option for a virtual Presto card either. I’ve seen posts alluding to some people being in a beta where they have it, IIRC?
 
Anyone notice the Presto pucks at the subway stations seem to have been replaced? They only have 4 LED lights now and they seem to be just as fast at detecting my presto card as the original green readers before they were replaced with the pucks
 
Coolibop said:
The link suggests they were talking about Apple not Google. Unfortunately the link doesn't seem to be working.
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Both the main Apple Wallet and FAQ pages were captured by archive.org on December 17th. It may take a short amount of time to load:

PRESTO in Apple Wallet

web.archive.org web.archive.org
https://web.archive.org/web/20231217015800mp_/https://prestocard.prestoiits1.net/en/support/faqs/PRESTO-in-Apple-Wallet

There's still a lot of FPO content on these pages. All of the app screenshots are the Android version of the process.
 
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EastYorkTTCFan said:
It's not necessarly the card wearing out but if you keep it somewhere that it can get bent easily then it does stop working, I've replaced two of them because of keeping them in my wallet.
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trtcttc said:
These card really shouldn’t “wear out”, the communication is done by a few thin wires in the card. The delay is likely due to the device communicating with its base station or internal processing rather than the connection between your card and the device.
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Napalm Frog said:
My card "expires" June 2017, and what looks to be a manufacture date of Sep 2011, so it's likely 10+ years old and still kicking.
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My green Presto card that had exp. 2017 suddenly stopped working last week. Oddly it still worked on the "puck"/disc readers to enter the subway, but not at all on anything else, including my own smartphone and the machines in the stations where you can reload them. I took it to the GO area at Union Station as that was the only place I know of where I've seen an actual person still working in a booth (they seem to have been permanently closed at all the other GO stations). They said it wasn't being recognized anymore by the readers, likely because it was cracked. I looked closely at the card and the plastic has no external crack that I could see. It appears to have been made of two thinner pieces of plastic stuck together. I assume the thin wires must be between them, and maybe over time the wires can dry out and crack?
 
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Oh joy - more clueless riders trying to tap their phone, and blocking everyone boarding while they try and troubleshoot their devices ...
 
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