I came down from Sutton on the GO bus today, paying cash. I had business in Keswick, but once that was done, I decided to test the system by going to refill my negative-balance Presto card in person, so that I could subsequently refill it online. I paid cash on the GO bus to go from Keswick to Newmarket, then used my debit card to get a 2-zone Viva/YRT ticket to Richmond Hill.
While I agree with everything you said, it is worth noting that the YRT offices convenient to YRT and Viva routes. It is only about 200m away from the High Tech Rd. 99 bus stop, and about 360m away from Richmond Hill Centre.
I went there today. You walk out of the Richmond Hill Centre (RHC) station, past the side of the cinema building along a road that does not have a continuous sidewalk and would be quite dangerous in winter, under the bridge that carries High Tech Road over the tracks, and across the parking lot. I decided that the building with the greenish glass was my destination, because it has the York Region logo on the outside. However, when you arrive in its parking lot from RHC, you face the back of the building. There is only a small sign on the south door directing you to to the left, to the "front" door.
I went around and entered the lobby. There was a convenience store (closed), and various offices, mostly having to do with the courts. There was also a display of YRT/Viva brochures, which was the only clue that I might have been in the right place. There was no YRT, Viva, or Presto signage anywhere directing me to the building or on the outside of the building. I went over to look at the directory by the elevators. York Region Transit: fifth floor. I went up.
The YRT office was closed. Business hours until 4:30 PM. I was unable to refill my Presto card, and would have to go to Union.
A man exited the office, and I chatted with him. He did admit that "we were hearing that we need more places to handle the Presto card", and suggested that maybe the lockout was a way of encouraging people not to drive their cards into negative balance. I suggested, wouldn't it make more sense to make it
easier for us to give Presto the money they want? Why close their main office just as the evening transit rush hour is getting under way?
So I got back on the Viva bus and went to Finch. I was hoping, but not expecting, that the ticket place at the Finch interregional bus station could handle Presto, but they couldn't. It was time to hop on the subway to Union.
At Finch subway, there was a pleasant surprise. A shiny new Toronto Rocket train waited for me! The doors opened, and I got on. Then about a minute later, it went out of service, and I had to get off. *sigh* (Still, I got to *sit* in one in revenue service...)
I did a couple of more things downtown, and went to Union. They loaded up my Presto card with 40 dollars and I was out of there in five minutes... running for the next bus back to Newmarket (connecting to Sutton), which was about to leave.
As I was getting off the GO bus in Sutton, I noticed that, as I tapped my card, the bus fare reader displayed the running balance of the card. Presumably that gets updated to the system at the end of the day.
So now my Presto card is back in operation, and when the website updates and the displayed negative balance disappears, presumably I'll be able to load more money on it. But I shouldn't have to go 50 km out of my way to put 31 cents on my card--and that's just the distance from
Newmarket to Union!
