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Metrolinx: Presto Fare Card

rbt said:
That doesn't sound wrong. I've used the same pattern when transferring buses in New Market.

Top on when boarding, tap off when deboarding. Repeat with the next bus, or in one case the exact same bus as it decided to go through afterall.
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Ah, but they clearly say to tap on and off while boarding/leaving each bus (and the driver enforces this). In the past they've clearly said not to tap on and off when changing trains. Though the current instructions simply say to tap off when leaving the station (which ones doesn't do if changing trains).

rbt said:
Anything that isn't backtracking in that 2.5 hour period seems to be considered a single trip.
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Quite possibly ... but not clearly communicated. They used to say if you take a second train trip within 2.5 hours to use the override button first (normally reversing your first trip), however you won't get a discount ... but I note that language all appears to have vanished (or I'm blind) in the June 2013 GO Presto users guide - http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/fares/PRESTO_Guide_EN.pdf
 
nfitz said:
Ah, but they clearly say to tap on and off while boarding/leaving each bus (and the driver enforces this). In the past they've clearly said not to tap on and off when changing trains. Though the current instructions simply say to tap off when leaving the station (which ones doesn't do if changing trains).

Quite possibly ... but not clearly communicated. They used to say if you take a second train trip within 2.5 hours to use the override button first (normally reversing your first trip), however you won't get a discount ... but I note that language all appears to have vanished (or I'm blind) in the June 2013 GO Presto users guide - http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/fares/PRESTO_Guide_EN.pdf
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You're right! It definitely used to say that there's no discount on multiple trips within 2.5 hours and it seems to have disappeared from this guide.

I'm slightly confused as to why this wasn't addressed anywhere in the guide, I can't be the only one who's ever had to use multiple train lines, I'm sure many people heading to Niagara Falls don't start on the Lakeshore line.
 
Sarvish said:
I'm slightly confused as to why this wasn't addressed anywhere in the guide, I can't be the only one who's ever had to use multiple train lines, I'm sure many people heading to Niagara Falls don't start on the Lakeshore line.
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This has always confused me. Even a simple Oshawa to Niagara Falls train trip on a Saturday (depart Oshawa 7:41 AM, arrive Union 8:40 AM, depart Union 9:00 AM, arrive Niagara Falls 11:04 AM) is over 3 hours.
 
nfitz said:
Ah, but they clearly say to tap on and off while boarding/leaving each bus (and the driver enforces this). In the past they've clearly said not to tap on and off when changing trains. Though the current instructions simply say to tap off when leaving the station (which ones doesn't do if changing trains).
Click to expand...

Hrm.. Alright, yet another confusing inconsistency between the train and bus system.
 
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So in the end, I just tapped on at Rouge Hill and off at Mount Pleasant.
06/05/2013 04:26 PM GoTransit Mount Pleasant GO Station Rail e-Purse Fare Payment $3.94 $27.36 Jun - 2013 3 1 $1.71
06/05/2013 02:04 PM GoTransit Rouge Hill GO Station Rail e-Purse Fare Payment $4.85 $31.30 Jun - 2013 2 1 $0.00

It looks like it cost me more than it did to just take a bus since I got no transfer credit at Union, I'm not going to bother asking about it because it was a one-time trip but there should be someway to transfer at Union so that train and train+bus trips are the same cost.

Another problem, hurrah! I loaded my card online on the 5th using my debit card, it said I was supposed to get a confirmation page but I got no such thing and instead got an error. However, the money has been taken out of my account and hasn't appeared on my presto card yet. I have no idea who to contact about this. The contact us number that presto gives doesn't seem to ever connect to anyone, I keep getting menus that just end in information with no option to speak to anyone.
 
Electrify said:
Best to select stolen card from the menu, that's what I did after going through their shit menus 3 times when I was trying to talk to someone...

You can also try to explain what happened, and they might be able to give you your transfer credit.
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Thanks, I'm going to give them a call again. That menu was absolutely horrible. Since I'm out $100 right now, I'm not too concerned about the 60 cents but I might just go ask at Union on my way home today.
 
Thanks for the tip, managed to get a hold of someone after being on hold for 19 minutes. She told me that she had to pass the case on to her supervisor since she has no clue what happened and that I should get a call back within 5 days.

I've never had problems with Presto in the 2.5 years I've had the card and all of a sudden it's just not cooperating with me.
 
Sarvish said:
It looks like it cost me more than it did to just take a bus since I got no transfer credit at Union, I'm not going to bother asking about it because it was a one-time trip but there should be someway to transfer at Union so that train and train+bus trips are the same cost.
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Yes, that it curious. As a student it cost you $8.79, which is correct. But then it indicates the fare is $8.12 if you transfer at Union. It would be interesting to see if you repeated the trip, what the effect would be by tapping out and in at Union.

Sarvish said:
Another problem, hurrah! I loaded my card online on the 5th using my debit card, it said I was supposed to get a confirmation page but I got no such thing and instead got an error. However, the money has been taken out of my account and hasn't appeared on my presto card yet.
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You used the card on the 5th to travel to Mount Pleasant. So it would not have loaded on the 5th, because it doesn't load until 24 hours (or so) later. Have you used it since the 5th?
 
I was listening in the gallery at a Brampton council meeting on Wednesday when the Works and Transport Comissioner went up to speak. Apparently, after the elimination of paper tickets, Presto usage on Brampton Transit has risen to 65%. They also expect to eliminate period passes within a year. I'm not sure if they mean altogether and kicking in a loyalty like GO, or if they just mean the physical passes.
 
DKsan said:
I was listening in the gallery at a Brampton council meeting on Wednesday when the Works and Transport Comissioner went up to speak. Apparently, after the elimination of paper tickets, Presto usage on Brampton Transit has risen to 65%. They also expect to eliminate period passes within a year. I'm not sure if they mean altogether and kicking in a loyalty like GO, or if they just mean the physical passes.
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I like how Brampton is fast tracking its PRESTO implementation. When that auditor's general report came out about PRESTO, I remember seeing alot of people calling it a waste and how its full of problems, there no places to load PRESTO manually and how there is low uptake. Of course, being from Brampton, very little of this applied to me (there were some start up glitches). This is what a suburb committed to transit can achieve.
 
According to the CEO June Report, see this link, PRESTO could be rolling out with the new streetcars in the first quarter of 2014.

The legal agreement for implementing PRESTO at the TTC has been completed. The agreement includes a commitment to develop a detailed project schedule for the overall project through to final implementation and operation. Discussions between Metrolinx and TTC continue towards developing this schedule.

The initial release of PRESTO at the TTC will support the rollout of the new streetcars starting in Q1-2014. The scope of this initial release of PRESTO will include fare payment functionality on-board the new streetcars, offboard at select transit stops and subway stations. An RFP for the farecard equipment to support the initial release was issued, and is now in the final stages of contract award. TTC staff is working with Metrolinx to confirm the system design details, operational impacts and implementation plan for the initial PRESTO release.

Field studies to determine whether sufficient power is available at TTC subway stations to support PRESTO equipment are now completed. A work plan for the design of the required electrical upgrades at the initial 41 subway stations has been approved, and the first design package has been issued for circulation and approval. A work plan for the remaining stations will be developed once the data from the field studies has been compiled and evaluated.
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I'll give them a little extra time and say spring or Q2 of 2014.
 
Man, Presto is really starting to get on my nerves...

So yesterday at around 8am I loaded $30 on to my card. I had enough on my card to cover my day's travels so I had little concern. Now despite advising 24 hours to load, in my previous experience it cones up almost instantly.

Yet on my trip to and from work 8 hours later it was not coming through. I got off the bus near a GO station and used a balance checker, and it still did not show. I also did not get an email to confirm my purchase, no charge was on my credit card, and the website was not showing my updated balance (it showed my current balance at $10, yet under transaction history showed it going down to $7).

I called them up and had them check to see if I had my load waiting, and apparently it was. We assumed that since it was under 24 hours, it had not been processed yet was all.

This morning at about 10:30am, 26.5 hours after loading, I got to the Viva stop and did a balance check, and surprise... it still wasn't showing up. Since I'm trying to stay on the right side of everything, I tapped and let it go into a negative balance. So now despite doing everything right on my end, I will have to pay a penalty to unlock my card.

Here are some deeper questions though: who gets the money from this penalty, and where does it go to? How much money has been collected from this fee? What incentives and oversight does this party have to ensure the system works as advertised, rather than charging people penalties fraudulently? And seeing that the system is so prone to errors, how come there is no appeal process to refund the penalty fee if the user was correct and it was the system which failed?
 
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Electrify said:
Man, Presto is really starting to get on my nerves...

So yesterday at around 8am I loaded $30 on to my card. I had enough on my card to cover my day's travels so I had little concern. Now despite advising 24 hours to load, in my previous experience it cones up almost instantly.

Yet on my trip to and from work 8 hours later it was not coming through. I got off the bus near a GO station and used a balance checker, and it still did not show. I also did not get an email to confirm my purchase, no charge was on my credit card, and the website was not showing my updated balance (it showed my current balance at $10, yet under transaction history showed it going down to $7).

I called them up and had them check to see if I had my load waiting, and apparently it was. We assumed that since it was under 24 hours, it had not been processed yet was all.

This morning at about 10:30am, 26.5 hours after loading, I got to the Viva stop and did a balance check, and surprise... it still wasn't showing up. Since I'm trying to stay on the right side of everything, I tapped and let it go into a negative balance. So now despite doing everything right on my end, I will have to pay a penalty to unlock my card.

Here are some deeper questions though: who gets the money from this penalty, and where does it go to? How much money has been collected from this fee? What incentives and oversight does this party have to ensure the system works as advertised, rather than charging people penalties fraudulently? And seeing that the system is so prone to errors, how come there is no appeal process to refund the penalty fee if the user was correct and it was the system which failed?
Click to expand...

Send Presto an email with your issue and they will likely give you a credit. I got $10 of credit for a similar issue.
 
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