[ksun]

I'll take a single reader at every station over every station having ample readers any day. I have no issue walking to another entrance, if need be. Sure it's not convenient, but you can live with it for now.

Except every station doesn't have Presto.

 

[ksun]

At a minimum though, would it kill them to simply put a frigging sign at the entrance, before you go down all the stairs?

Exactly. That's how much they care about customers, often it is quite a walk including many stairs.

 

[ksun]

Especially considering that all the current fare gates are getting ripped out in the next two years.

Just like the new streetcar will be rolled out in the "next two years"?
It is TTC time. Two years often means four or five.

 

[Electrify]

Just like the new streetcar will be rolled out in the "next two years"?
It is TTC time. Two years often means four or five.

In TTC time, a pilot project lasts 10+ years (referring to the 2 hour transfer on St. Clair).

 

[NotMathematical]

At least the TTC is not the one in charge of the PRESTO roll out, Metrolinx/Accenture is. But you can't trust them as well. Eventually every entrance will have a reader, including automated entrances. But Metrolinx/Accenture does not tell us when. When we ask, they say "we don't know when, but by the end of 2016 for sure!!".

 

[UD2]

Why do you think an average person drives during the weekend and don't use transit? It is still a lot more convenient and probably cheaper to take transit when they come to downtown. And that $12.5 is probably worth it.

I think what they should do is to to scrap monthly passes and put a maximum charge amount equivalent to the monthly pass so that the system keeps deducting fare for each trip until the cap is reached. Essentially one can have a monthly pass without having to buy one. London does that on a daily basis. Not sure if TTC will be sane enough to do that, or will keep maximizing profits.

There area many people who work downtown and live in the burbs who fit this profile. In fact most people who work downtown and live in the burbs take transit to work and drive on the weekends.

When it comes to driving on the weekends Sometimes cost isn't the most important thing, the 10 to 20 dollar difference between transit and gas + parking can be immaterial when weighted against time and convinance.

Also if you live in the burbs and need to come downtown on the weekends, chances are you are not traveling alone.

 

[mdrejhon]

Especially considering that all the current fare gates are getting ripped out in the next two years.

Actually, no.

The budget funded a specific number of 'new' faregates.
This is shown in that fancy TTC PDF.

Complete new-faregate deployment across the whole TTC subway system will likely take 5+ years, possibly with the final legacy systems removed in ~10 years.

 

[ShonTron]

Calgary's ConnectCard, never implemented, was canned on June 30; it was originally supposed to launch three years ago. In Vancouver, faregates, meant to coincide with the launch of the Compass Card, remain wide open at SkyTrain stations. It's only now in the process of rolling out.

Presto's rollout has been slow and problematic, but it could have been much worse.

 

[W. K. Lis]

There area many people who work downtown and live in the burbs who fit this profile. In fact most people who work downtown and live in the burbs take transit to work and drive on the weekends.

That maybe true in the 905 and most U.S. cities. However, in Toronto itself, more people use the TTC in the non-rush hour compared to the 905 and most U.S. cities. That is also why there is a large number of users for the MetroPass (despite the cost), they use it more often than just commuting. The 510 Spadina is like a rush-hour, during a Sunday afternoon. What good is a cheaper monthly pass if the city you are in does not even have Sunday service?

 

[nfitz]

Presto's rollout has been slow and problematic, but it could have been much worse.

The initial PRESTO rollout seemed quite fast. There was a long gap before TTC rollout started last winter, but that was all politics, not about the card itself.

Problematic? There was a glitch in the Ottawa rollout - but that's the only major problem that comes to mind. In the end I think it was a 6-8 month delay while they fixed problems with the readers in buses. Compared to the delays in other cities though that seems relatively minor, and there haven't been any similar problems in the other 10 systems.

Yes, it could have been much worse!

 

[Jonny5]

The initial PRESTO rollout seemed quite fast. There was a long gap before TTC rollout started last winter, but that was all politics, not about the card itself.

Problematic? There was a glitch in the Ottawa rollout - but that's the only major problem that comes to mind. In the end I think it was a 6-8 month delay while they fixed problems with the readers in buses. Compared to the delays in other cities though that seems relatively minor, and there haven't been any similar problems in the other 10 systems.

Yes, it could have been much worse!

IIRC PRESTO had major issues just getting to it's original launch. It languished for a year as there were arguments between various parties about what it would support on initial launch. It was so bad the director of the project was fired, and it still took a year after that to get it out the door for just a beta test with users at one station. It took another year jsut for GO to get it up to par to eliminate 10-rides.

 

[nfitz]

IIRC PRESTO had major issues just getting to it's original launch. It languished for a year as there were arguments between various parties about what it would support on initial launch. It was so bad the director of the project was fired, and it still took a year after that to get it out the door for just a beta test with users at one station. It took another year jsut for GO to get it up to par to eliminate 10-rides.

I don't recall anyone getting fired until the Ottawa roll-out.

Yes, there were some delays pre-launch, before any launch dates had been announced, or any hardware installed (other than a small trial at Union ... and was it Oakville?). But it wasn't very high profile - I expect only the geeks noticed.. And surely far better then get the bugs out then, rather than once it goes live. And perhaps there were delays before the beta test ... I wasn't even paying attention then! Similar delays have happened elsewhere.

Quite frankly, I've been surprised how smoothly the technical side of the Presto implementation has gone in the GTA. And even in Ottawa since they sorted out the initial glitch with the bus readers.

 

[UD2]

That maybe true in the 905 and most U.S. cities. However, in Toronto itself, more people use the TTC in the non-rush hour compared to the 905 and most U.S. cities. That is also why there is a large number of users for the MetroPass (despite the cost), they use it more often than just commuting. The 510 Spadina is like a rush-hour, during a Sunday afternoon. What good is a cheaper monthly pass if the city you are in does not even have Sunday service?

I believe what you're saying is true for the downtown core, and also areas such as the Jane corridor. But I'm not sure how many residents in those areas work downtown and live in the burbs.

But if you look at the areass in north York or scarabrough, transiting to work on a metro pass and driving on the weekend is definitely the case. For those people, metro pass is more expansive trip per trip, but it adds convinence, and the cost evens out when they claim tax credits at year end.

 

[nfitz]

But if you look at the areass in north York or scarabrough, transiting to work on a metro pass and driving on the weekend is definitely the case. For those people, metro pass is more expansive trip per trip, but it adds convinence, and the cost evens out when they claim tax credits at year end.

If the cost evens out, then the Metropass is cheaper.

With the tax credit , the Metropass pays off after 43 trips. With the annual subscription (MDP) it pays off after only 40 trips. For adults

Bizarrely, for seniors these multipliers are 49 and 45 trips. That seems rather unfortunate!

 

[Jonny5]

It is frustrating that Presto is finally installed at some stations but not on all entrances. I was entering Sheppard station but found the south entrance "tokens and metropass only". Well I have cash and Presto only so needed to walk quite a bit to the north of Sheppard to get in. (Not sure if there is another one closer that has Presto)

I have been to many subway systems and in all cases all entrances accept the fare cards. As usual extremely slow implementation with a half a$$ result. Is it the plan to have presto only at certain entrances? That would be unacceptable. Most people still need both tokens and presto.

A while back someone from the TTC communicated a major issues installing PRESTO at some stations was asbestos in the ceilings and walls where they planned to run the conduits to power the terminals. Asbestos required specially trained workers to remove, and it takes a long time, especially if not closing the station.
Not a surprise in Canada there would be asbestos everywhere even in buildings from the 80's.