chriskayTO
Active Member
I can't get it to work. I get to the stage where it asks me to choose a username, password, and security question, at which point the fields are blanked and I have to start over again, with no message.
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nfitz
Superstar
Very useful feature if you have multiple cards in the same profile. I went with something like "John", "Jane", and "Spare".
So I registered my 2nd Presto card today, because apparently the GTA and Ottawa systems aren't linked. In fact, it wouldn't even recognize my GTA account when I tried to sign in in the Ottawa section, so I now have 2 cards under 2 different usernames.
Oh well, I mainly load from my Ottawa card from my computer and my GTA card at the GO station, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
FYI: If anyone is wondering how to tell the Ottawa and GTA cards apart: The GTA card has "Presto" readable in portrait, the Ottawa card has it readable in landscape.
Oh well, I mainly load from my Ottawa card from my computer and my GTA card at the GO station, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
FYI: If anyone is wondering how to tell the Ottawa and GTA cards apart: The GTA card has "Presto" readable in portrait, the Ottawa card has it readable in landscape.
Sarvish
New Member
Quick question, for the first time I have to travel on multiple GO lines and I'm kind of confused as to how I'd use presto. I need to get from Rouge Hill to Mount Pleasant. I can take the 2:05 train from Rouge Hill getting to Union at 2:41 and then the 3:30 train from Union getting to Mount Pleasant at 4:23.
Do I override and tap on at Rouge Hill and then just tap off at Mount Pleasant? Or do I tap off at Union and then tap on again when I'm getting on the Georgetown train? The fare calculator says it's cheaper to transfer at Union but I don't know if transfers apply between multiple trains since the website seems to imply that transfers only apply for buses. The other problem with just tapping on at Rouge Hill and then off at Mount Pleasant is that I'm barely within the 2.5 hour window, if the train's late by 10 minutes I'd get charged for the full line.
Long time lurker and had to make an account really quickly for the question :/
Do I override and tap on at Rouge Hill and then just tap off at Mount Pleasant? Or do I tap off at Union and then tap on again when I'm getting on the Georgetown train? The fare calculator says it's cheaper to transfer at Union but I don't know if transfers apply between multiple trains since the website seems to imply that transfers only apply for buses. The other problem with just tapping on at Rouge Hill and then off at Mount Pleasant is that I'm barely within the 2.5 hour window, if the train's late by 10 minutes I'd get charged for the full line.
Long time lurker and had to make an account really quickly for the question :/
Sarvish
New Member
and now I think I've gone and screwed something else up. Loaded $100 onto my card using Interac online from my TD account. Money was subtracted from my account and it said I would get a confirmation page when it was done, instead I got a page that said something along the lines of "This page cannot be found." So I have no clue if my $100 went through and I guess if it's not in by Friday, I have to give them a call and yell at them?
DavidH
Senior Member
I think you are best advised to call GO customer service at 416-869-3200 to get an official answer.
Swarley
Active Member
Same thing just happened to me... wish I could say I didn't expect this but Presto has never really been problem free for me.
rbt
Senior Member
It took London about 10 years to make Oyster work without issues. Hong Kong did better but they still had regular issues 5 years after production deployment.
Presto, being designed from scratch with heavy political interference (there are 2 fully independent Presto designs in production now) will likely take at least as long as Oyster to become problem free/convenient to customers once deployed to production.
Expect a few major outages when they try to kick off TTC integration. Going from a few thousand to a million transactions (taps) during peak hour is going to expose a ton of scaling problems in the backend implementation.
Should have a reliable smart-card for transit in Toronto by 2020. Vancouver, having tendered a standard open-payment based system a couple years ago, should be rocking by 2015.
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nfitz
Superstar
If you wait and take the 4:05 train from Rouge Hill, getting to Union at 4:41 you should be able to get the 4:45 train from Union getting to Mount Pleasant at 5:39 cutting the trip down from 2:18 to 1:34. (and only 2:04 if you miss the 4:45 and catch the 5:15 instead).
Or after June 30th, you can catch a 2:35 pm train from Rouge Hill, getting to Union at 3:11, cutting the trip from 2:18 to 1:48.
If you have a default trip set, yes override and tap on at Rouge Hill and tap off at Mount Pleasant. If you haven't a default trip, just tap on and off.
No, you don't tap at Union when changing trains. But you do if you transfer from train to bus.
I'm a bit mystified what happens if there's over 2.5 hours between a train tap on and off. Still, with a tap on at Rouge Hill, and a tap at Mount Pleasant, it's pretty clear to anyone looking at the records what actually happened. So I wouldn't worry about, tap on and off. Wait until you see the train coming at Rouge Hill before you tap on! If it is over 2.5 hours, see what the fare you get charged is (I'm sure we'd be interested to hear about it). If they overcharge you, phone GO (not Presto, but GO) to complain, as it's certainly not your fault the train was late! They should be able to sort it out.
Which is good if you get the right person. But confusing if you get someone who doesn't understand it properly themselves!
Worked fine for me. I can't replicate it, now I've created an account. Did you make sure both the card validation number and pin were filled in, if it's asking for that? You could try a different browser ... I was using Google Chrome.
raptor
Senior Member
check if you have special characters in the card nickname - I used an apostrophe (such as Bob's card) and it wasn't letting me to continue.
nfitz
Superstar
Ah yes, I noticed similar. I changed "John's" to "John" to complete.
Sarvish
New Member
Thanks! It's just a one-time thing and my father took the car to work since he started at 3 am and won't be back until after I leave. Unfortunately I have to be in by 4:40 at the latest or I would have done something about the awful gap in between. I was going to call GO but the logical thing to do seems to be to override my default trip at Rouge Hill and then just tap off normally at Mount Pleasant. That way if something screws up I can go in and say I did it the way the brochure says since it says for train trips, just tap on and off.
The only reason I asked about transferring the tap at Union is that the GO website says a trip from Rouge Hill to Mount Pleasant would cost $8.79 as a student for me but if I transfer at Union, the cost drops to $8.12. Doesn't make sense for my trip home to be 67 cents cheaper since I'm taking the bus. If it charges me anything other than $8.12, I'll probably also go in and try and figure out what I'm actually supposed to do.
In addition, the maximum fare is supposed to be to the end of your line. Theoretically, if I were going to Kitchener, it would be cheaper to just tap on at Rouge Hill and never tap off.
ETA: So I actually called them and just got off the phone. The lady sounded 100% sure and said I tap on at Rouge Hill, off at Union, wait until 15 minutes before the Kitchener train, tap on again at Union, and off at Mount Pleasant and I'll be charged the same fare as if I were transferring from bus to train. When this all updates on the presto website, I'll post the logs since I'm kind of curious as to how the system handles it.
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nfitz
Superstar
Yes, I'd be interested. That contradicts everything GO has said before.
I assume you override before tapping on at Rouge Hill. Did they say to override before you do the second tap at Union? On one hand, it makes sense if you have a defult trip involving Union. On the other hand, doesn't the use of the override button mid-trip indicate that your starting a new trip?
Sarvish
New Member
Shoot, I didn't think to ask that. My default trip is Rouge Hill to Union so I'd have to override at Union for sure but you're right in that it does seem to indicate a new trip. I guess I'll call them again LOL
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rbt
Senior Member
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.
Anything that isn't backtracking in that 2.5 hour period seems to be considered a single trip.