TOareaFan
Superstar
100% correct. Each transit agency should be allowed to have their own pricing....but the fare structures/rules should be consistant....otherwise you are gonna create confusion and confusion is a disincentive to transit use.
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100% correct. Each transit agency should be allowed to have their own pricing....but the fare structures/rules should be consistant....otherwise you are gonna create confusion and confusion is a disincentive to transit use.
Electrify
Senior Member
Just wondering, with autoload is your account updated instantly, or do you have to wait 24 hours like if you have to do it manually? It shouldn't matter too much for me since I will mostly use it with YRT so in most cases I will only use about $5.20 (or $3.80 if the girl at Union screwed up 
) per day, but this info would be good to know if I end up having to use more than my balance worth of transit on a single day. For some reason I thought I read somewhere on the Presto site that autoload is instant, but can't seem to find that statement on there anymore.
) per day, but this info would be good to know if I end up having to use more than my balance worth of transit on a single day. For some reason I thought I read somewhere on the Presto site that autoload is instant, but can't seem to find that statement on there anymore.TOareaFan
Superstar
Just wondering, with autoload is your account updated instantly, or do you have to wait 24 hours like if you have to do it manually? It shouldn't matter too much for me since I will mostly use it with YRT so in most cases I will only use about $5.20 (or $3.80 if the girl at Union screwed up
I have found autoload is instant....and you see it happen right there as the tap on/off takes your balance below the threshold you see a transaction flash on the screen which is money loading on your card.
Electrify
Senior Member
Another question: While doing some Googling on the card, I came across Brampton Transit's Presto page and noticed something:
Does this mean that a Presto card with a weekly or monthly pass on it won't work outside of Brampton, or just that outside of Brampton you won't have unlimited service and it will deduct the proper fare? Seeing as weekly and monthly passes are priced only a little higher than bulk fare, I could see the advantage of simply having them setup automatically on the card so you don't have to buy new ones every week/month. But if you have to buy a separate Presto card to use on other GTA transit systems, it kind of defeats the benefit of the whole system.
Does this mean that a Presto card with a weekly or monthly pass on it won't work outside of Brampton, or just that outside of Brampton you won't have unlimited service and it will deduct the proper fare? Seeing as weekly and monthly passes are priced only a little higher than bulk fare, I could see the advantage of simply having them setup automatically on the card so you don't have to buy new ones every week/month. But if you have to buy a separate Presto card to use on other GTA transit systems, it kind of defeats the benefit of the whole system.
nfitz
Superstar
I'd assume the latter ...
How do people handle transfers from Brampton to neighbouring systems with the current pass? Do they just show their pass, or do they take transfers?
RedRocket191
Senior Member
PRESTO essentially works like this:
If rider has loaded a valid period pass on the card, count the trip against that pass. If there is no valid period pass, then count the trip against the cash balance. If I transferred onto the Mississauga Transit bus with a Brampton transit pass on my card then the Mississauga trip would be deducted from the balance - even if it was a transfer.
If you are doing multiple system trips on a daily basis then getting a Brampton transit pass for your Presto card may be pointless since trips which start outside of brampton are not covered. The break even point for a Brampton transit monthly pass is 40 trips, but only 50% of the cross-border commuter's trips count against that pass.
Brampton transit will issue transfers to people with a pass when they need to transfer onto YRT or MT.
If rider has loaded a valid period pass on the card, count the trip against that pass. If there is no valid period pass, then count the trip against the cash balance. If I transferred onto the Mississauga Transit bus with a Brampton transit pass on my card then the Mississauga trip would be deducted from the balance - even if it was a transfer.
If you are doing multiple system trips on a daily basis then getting a Brampton transit pass for your Presto card may be pointless since trips which start outside of brampton are not covered. The break even point for a Brampton transit monthly pass is 40 trips, but only 50% of the cross-border commuter's trips count against that pass.
Brampton transit will issue transfers to people with a pass when they need to transfer onto YRT or MT.
Komiksulo
Active Member
Yes, that needs to be a lot clearer. I *think* they mean, "Brampton period passes loaded on a Presto card can only be used in Brampton."
Is it possible to have both a Mississauga and a Brampton period pass loaded on the same Presto card? And what seems more likely, is it possible to have a Brampton period pass and a GO period pass loaded on the same Presto card? Plus additional fare value for those odd trips on other systems? Come to think of it, will the GTA Pass be migrating to Presto? Or will the system automatically add up the number of trips you actually take on different systems and apply discounts as appropriate?
Electrify
Senior Member
Assuming there is enough credit on the card and/or the autopay does not reach insufficient funds on your credit/debit card, I assume you can have as many different transit system period passes as you'd like. GTA pass would make excellent sense to be preloaded on to Presto, at least as soon as the TTC gets on board. Each transit system has their own strategies when applying discounts. For example, after 30 rides GO will cut the cost of each ride down significantly until you reach 40 rides, where after that it is essentially free. In Oakville, long story short, the first 8 rides are charged at standard cash fare, then it is charged at bulk fare, finally after 36 rides it becomes free. Meanwhile other systems simply charge bulk fare with no cap as to when it can become free.
nfitz
Superstar
I have a feeling I read somewhere there was a design limitation of 3 concurrent passes. It is hard to imagine a scenario where that wouldn't be enough!
Jonny5
Senior Member
So is PRESTO going live for buses on Monday?
There has been no announcement. Maybe they want to have a soft launch.
There has been no announcement. Maybe they want to have a soft launch.
DavidH
Senior Member
It's tomorrow, but it's not a soft launch. There will be GO staff at major bus locations (e.g. GO stations, terminals, etc - although I don't have a list) for the morning rush. Expect an official announcement from GO in the morning as well. It's just they've decided to do the "available now" thing with it.
nfitz
Superstar
No announcement from GO (that I can see at least), but they have changed their website to note that "PRESTO can now be used across the entire GO network ... and on all GO Buses." as well as having added information on how to Tap On/Off for buses.
No information yet on the Prestcard website ... not so much a soft launch ... but a stealth launch!
DavidH
Senior Member
They sent out email, see below for it captured on twitter via a third-party account.
http://twittercounter.com/tweet/MjA4NTA2MDc
I agree the publicity approach on this was odd, though. Then again, I've heard enough stories about Presto issues with GO buses - and seen problems on DRT - that they probably do not want to have a huge number of riders start using it all at once. And of course, many commuters will not switch until existing monthly passes expire anyway.
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TOareaFan
Superstar
I got the email at 1:40 p.m. today:
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Only one question remains:
Using paper tickets you could only get the 65-cent co-fare if you were travelling to a GO RAIL station (or you lied and said you were). Will PRESTO give me the co-fare if I am travelling to a GO bus stop or terminal? I once got off a train at Port Credit, walked up to Mineola and still got the discount (with PRESTO), so not discriminating where the transfer is made would benefit myself and a large number of people. For one member of this board it would mean the difference between taking one local bus to the nearest GO bus stop versus two local buses in the opposite direction towards the station.
Using paper tickets you could only get the 65-cent co-fare if you were travelling to a GO RAIL station (or you lied and said you were). Will PRESTO give me the co-fare if I am travelling to a GO bus stop or terminal? I once got off a train at Port Credit, walked up to Mineola and still got the discount (with PRESTO), so not discriminating where the transfer is made would benefit myself and a large number of people. For one member of this board it would mean the difference between taking one local bus to the nearest GO bus stop versus two local buses in the opposite direction towards the station.