doady
Senior Member
The "cash only" policy is a legacy of a time when the only methods of fare payment were cash, tickets, and passes. Now there is Presto, and to maintain a cash-only policy on these routes is beyond dumb.
McGuinty Government Delivers PRESTO On All GO Trains and Buses
PRESTO is now available at all GO stations and on all GO buses.
Whether you're travelling on a GO train or bus, or municipal transit, the PRESTO card will help get you there. PRESTO is available at all 61 GO Transit stations, about 400 GO buses and on seven municipal transit systems.
Every day about 60,000 commuters are using their PRESTO cards to travel seamlessly across multiple transit systems in the GTHA. Users load their PRESTO cards with money and "tap on" when boarding a bus or train. The fare is automatically deducted from the card, eliminating the need for exact change, transfers or tokens.
PRESTO is another way Ontario is making it easier for commuters to get on the GO. Starting next year, riders will also get a refund if their train is more than 15 minutes late because Ontario families want to know that when they choose GO Transit they are going to get to where they need to be, quickly and on time.
Surprised Nobody's Posted This Yet...
http://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2011/08/presto-makes-commuting-easier-for-families-on-the-go.html
From the Georgina Advocate: Presto woes irk riders.
For the moment, I live near Sutton. I can walk out the door to the intersection and wave down the Beaverton GO bus to go through Sutton to Newmarket, and then onwards. However, there is nowhere near me to buy or refill a Presto card. There are precious few places to buy YRT paper tickets even. I drove to Newmarket early Saturday morning to go downtown, and I couldn't pay cash to refill my Presto card at the bus station there even. So I paid cash for a paper ticket to go to Union.
YRT and Presto need to make it easier to pay cash or debit to buy and refill their cards. How about putting Interac Online on the website so we can refill immediately?
gweed123 said:About time it gets onto GO buses. Now get it at TTC subway stations already! The buses I can understand, but seriously, it requires the retrofit of 1 (ONE!) turnstile at each subway station. It's not rocket science. I use Presto when I'm in Toronto, and it's a pain trying to figure out where I need to get on the subway based on what stations have a Presto reader and which ones don't. It reminds me of trying to get around on the subway when I was travelling with someone in a wheelchair. Until it's at every station, it's not really a viable alternative.
Hang on. The other transit agencies decided to implement Presto well over 5 years ago, and have only just started to roll it out. TTC decided to implement Presto a few weeks ago - and your complaining they haven't started rolling it out yet?About time it gets onto GO buses. Now get it at TTC subway stations already! The buses I can understand, but seriously, it requires the retrofit of 1 (ONE!) turnstile at each subway station. It's not rocket science.
The TTC seems to find a way to turn the simplest and most obvious decisions into rocket science.
...no one has actually come up with the money needed to purchase and install the mini-computers at the turnstile(s), nor to expand the central computer functions to accept significantly more transactions.
Hang on. The other transit agencies decided to implement Presto well over 5 years ago, and have only just started to roll it out. TTC decided to implement Presto a few weeks ago - and your complaining they haven't started rolling it out yet?
I too would guess that we may see it first in the subway stations; and then perhaps in the new fare vending machines for the streetcar system. But I'd doubt we'd see anything until at least 2012. They haven't even released their plan yet, let alone tendered the work.I'm not asking for a system-wide rollout, just at subway stations. The Presto machines are already at a dozen or so stations. I'm just asking for more stations. I understand that putting it on buses and streetcars is a whole different animal though.
I too would guess that we may see it first in the subway stations; and then perhaps in the new fare vending machines for the streetcar system. But I'd doubt we'd see anything until at least 2012. They haven't even released their plan yet, let alone tendered the work.
12 TTC stations have them. This was fully financed and constructed by Metrolinx. Very little to do with TTC.It's already at some subway stations (I know the terminus stations, as well as Union, Dundas, and I think Osgoode) have them.
12 TTC stations have them. This was fully financed and constructed by Metrolinx. Very little to do with TTC.
If Metrolinx would like to pay and continue installing in all the TTC stations, that would be fine - but they are refusing to do this, and are passing the buck to TTC.
Presumably TTC would have to sign a deal with Metrolinx first, which would include some kind of requirement of TTC back-room stuff.So instead of the TTC doing the logical thing and just saying "ok, we'll pay Metrolinx to get these in at all subway stations, since they've already been doing it. Meanwhile, we'll work on figuring out how to get them onto our buses and streetcars", we're going to sit here waiting for over a year so that the TTC can figure out how to reinvent the wheel and figure out how to implement Presto at subway stations.
Presumably TTC would have to sign a deal with Metrolinx first, which would include some kind of requirement of TTC back-room stuff.
Though TTC tendering the management of the installation of the machines at subway stations to Metrolinx seems like a great idea!