New Presto card not quite magic
August 10, 2007
Iain Marlow
Staff Reporter
"Presto" is the name on the little green card a lot of GTA commuters have been longing for: a swipe-and-scan pass that allows travel across city borders without the hassle of separate cards, tokens, tickets and fares.
Does it live up to its zippy slogan?
To find out, I joined the elite few who are getting a chance to test-drive Presto in this summer's pilot project – people who use Mississauga Transit, GO (via the Cooksville and Meadowvale stations), and the TTC. "One-way to Union," I said in the Cooksville GO station, sliding my Presto card – promotional lanyard and all – under the glass.
"How much do you want to put on it?"
"None, just a one-way to Union."
The attendant pointed behind me to the large, bright green Presto swipe station, around which two attendants in green aprons hovered.
I approached the machine awkwardly; it was stuck over in a corner near a door. Briefly, I recalled a visit to Shanghai, where people keep transit cards in their back pockets and the bottoms of purses, sliding either their bag or their butt across sensors attached to the turnstiles.
Reaching out and swiping the card tentatively, I felt like a vegetarian again – someone doing the right thing, but feeling unusual for doing it. After I swiped, I turned around to see a small, confused crowd.
"I want one of those," a man said to an attendant. When the apron-clad man started to explain application procedures, the commuter drifted away. Others looked on and smiled.
The first Presto user I met zipped by, said, "It works for me," and left without giving his name.
Then Jillian Ling walked in and swiped. "I usually come in from the other entrance, but they don't have a Presto machine over there," she said. "I like how you can swipe it and see how much balance there is."
Ling, 38, walked towards the far end of the track and met up with her husband, Paul.
Then the train came in and everyone got on and fell asleep.
At Union, Ling exited past a Presto machine at the bottom of the stairs – where she swipes her card on the way home – and went off to work.
At the swipe station near the Union TTC turnstile, a man walked past, swiped his wallet, and headed downstairs. "I'm late for work, but it's really handy," he said.
Heather Robinson, an athletic therapist at Women's College Hospital, paused before the Presto station and, examining her card, said, "It's convenient. My wallet was recently stolen and if this was in it, I could cancel it."
Robinson takes the GO train in from Meadowvale and the subway the rest of the way to work. But when she tried to swipe, a red light flashed and the screen, which usually displays how much you have left on the card, read: "Initializing."
Then it read: "Out of Order."
She looked around for the attendant and said, "Where'd she go?"
"Great, perfect timing," she sighed, as she plunked a token into the turnstile.
