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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

If a TTC chair accomplishes half as much as Giambrone in 4 years, I fear for transportation in this city. Although half of 0 is still zero.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
If a TTC chair accomplishes half as much as Giambrone in 4 years, I fear for transportation in this city. Although half of 0 is still zero.
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How can you possibly say that? New subway trains, new streetcars, new buses, expanded services (restoring finally the 1996 service cuts), new subway line, new LRT lines, new customer service program, new electronic information, new study of DRL. Given how much has been done, especially with so much inertia at TTC, I'm astonished that one can dismiss him so quickly!

However, if you want to threadjack this with such bizarre claims, perhaps you should stick to one of the existing threads
 
Thinking about some of the comments/problems people have had with Presto....has anyone ever received an explanation on why the whole system is so Union-centric. Yes, I get that it is a "GO driven" initiative and their service is mostly pointed at Union but why is it that only Union Station has the machines that "unlock" these cards and free up previously deposited money to be used?

It isn't even the cutomer service people you go to it is just a machine!

Even if it seemed like a good idea to them at first, surely they must have seen the light by now? Have they ever commented on when, or if, some of the things that require a trip to union now will not?
 
TOareaFan said:
Thinking about some of the comments/problems people have had with Presto....has anyone ever received an explanation on why the whole system is so Union-centric. Yes, I get that it is a "GO driven" initiative and their service is mostly pointed at Union but why is it that only Union Station has the machines that "unlock" these cards and free up previously deposited money to be used?

It isn't even the cutomer service people you go to it is just a machine!

Even if it seemed like a good idea to them at first, surely they must have seen the light by now? Have they ever commented on when, or if, some of the things that require a trip to union now will not?
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You can use any machine at any GO station. It is only the machines on TTC subway turnstiles that cannot load a card with a payment.
 
Here is a question for ya all......they started rolling out the system on the Georgetown line.....I believe it went live at Mt. Pleasant yesterday.

Brampton Transit will not go live for a while......so, in the interim, does anyone know how other transit systems handled the discounted fairs they offer GO riders? BT allows you to ride for 65c if you show a monthly GO pass or a multiple trip ticket with at least one trip available....if someone was now using Presto on GO how would the driver know to only charge them 65c (of course this is not an issue once the BT buses go live).

Anyone know how that was handled elsewhere or did the local guys go live at the same time as GO?
 
TOareaFan said:
Here is a question for ya all......they started rolling out the system on the Georgetown line.....I believe it went live at Mt. Pleasant yesterday.

Brampton Transit will not go live for a while......so, in the interim, does anyone know how other transit systems handled the discounted fairs they offer GO riders? BT allows you to ride for 65c if you show a monthly GO pass or a multiple trip ticket with at least one trip available....if someone was now using Presto on GO how would the driver know to only charge them 65c (of course this is not an issue once the BT buses go live).

Anyone know how that was handled elsewhere or did the local guys go live at the same time as GO?
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Generally, the rule is "if you need to do something that isn't yet supported by PRESTO, then stick with paper tickets and passes".

So, if you need to get a BT co-fare, you will need to continue using the old system for the time being.
 
<<As Transport for London (UK) considers replacing its Oyster card with an open-payment system, officials are talking with their counterparts in North America, Europe, and Australia. A standardized system that allows customers to use their credit or debit cards to pay transit fares would simplify transit travel for millions of business and leisure travelers.>>

http://www.thetransitwire.com/2010/10/08/contactless-cards-to-ease-global-travel/
 
I don't know where to stand because I'm still left wondering the answer to my #1 question about "open payment" is...

Can "open payment" feasibly have all the same capabilities of a PRETO-type system? Can it recognize GO<>local transit co-fares (50 cents to ride to the GO train)? Can it allow for daily price capping? Can it serve as a Metropass (saving customers a trip to a TTC station or vendor)? Can it send ridership data back to the transit operators, so they can save millions of dollars a year in data collection?

Yes or no?
 
^ I think it is possible even with present-day technology. Here's how I imagine it could work:
i) A common entity operates all turnstiles (Metrolinx/Presto, Visa/MC/Interac, or some other entity; I'll use Metrolinx in the example)
ii) During passenger's first touch of the day, Metrolinx registers card ID into network and preauthorizes card with Visa/MC/Interac, sort of like what happens at a gas station
iii) Turnstiles record card ID for each touch
iv) At end of day, Metrolinx calculates amount owed by each passenger, considering price capping and multi-jurisdiction trips, and processes payments with Visa/MC/Interac
 
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Transit riders in New York and New Jersey can now pay their fare by simply holding their Visa payWave-enabled mobile phone near the designated reader at the fare gate.

[video=youtube;of2GBIqP9eA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2GBIqP9eA[/video]

Sounds cheaper to implement than the Presto.
 
SGHA504 said:
Thats a cool system and all (NY Open Payment) but how does it handle passes and concession fares? I'd rather a system that can accomodate both.
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It has been mentioned a couple of dozen times in this thread how that could happen.

Anyway, the card acts to identify an individual and shows that you entered (and probably exited) at stops Foo and Bar at specific times. That's all (end of story). Any and all fare payment rules happen on a software package outside of the card.

The software rules in the backend could do any of the following with that information:
1) Show that since you purchased a pass on the 2nd, which is good for 30 days, no charge should be made
2) Charge you for a single trip.
3) Observe that you took 3 other trips that day and automatically charge you for a single day pass instead of 4 individual trips.
4) Observe that this was your 10th trip that month and charge you a reduced fare instead of full fare.
5) Anything else you can imagine.


The reason Open Payment doesn't specify these rules is that every transit operator will want something different. Presto goes with decreasing fare values (no monthly passes); London will probably want to automatically bill for the lowest rate (day pass or monthly pass value) when the threshold is crossed; Toronto will inevitably want a different billing algorithm.

New York is likely to maintain the exact same billing rules as they have today.

Again, the card acts to identify that an individual entered/exited the system at a specific time. What the transit authority does with that information, and presents to Visa/Mastercard for a charge is entirely up to them and is a political/business decision, not a technical one.
 
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Hate to keep bugging you guys for info on how Presto works but you are easier to ask than Presto themselves.....as I get ready to use the card, I keep finding "issues" that have me thinking this is needlessly complicated.

So....last week I realized that I have not used the card since I got it and activated it......once it goes live, I thought, that $10 is not gonna go too far. I went on the prestocard page and set up an autoload......set it at the minimum allowable figure $20...so evertime my balance drops to $20 it will load up some cash.....I assumed that within a day or so my balance would show an autoload....but as of today the balance remains at $10...did I do something wrong?
 
TOareaFan said:
Hate to keep bugging you guys for info on how Presto works but you are easier to ask than Presto themselves.....as I get ready to use the card, I keep finding "issues" that have me thinking this is needlessly complicated.

So....last week I realized that I have not used the card since I got it and activated it......once it goes live, I thought, that $10 is not gonna go too far. I went on the prestocard page and set up an autoload......set it at the minimum allowable figure $20...so evertime my balance drops to $20 it will load up some cash.....I assumed that within a day or so my balance would show an autoload....but as of today the balance remains at $10...did I do something wrong?
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You have to actually use your card for your balance to be updated... that is, unless you use it on the TTC. The terminals there are not linked to the Presto system, apparently. So to update your balance, you have to tap your card on a balance checker. Right now the only ones are at Union Station.
 
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