[ShonTron]

 

[Megaton327]

The TTC hasn't said anything to suggest that this is gonna happen, and the fare gates they have at York U suggest that it won't:

View attachment 107911

As I've said before, the fare payment part of the gates, on both the entry and exit sides, is modular, i.e. on the currently installed gates the Metropass readers can easily be swapped out for Presto sensors once passes are gone, and for the TYSSE gates the currently not installed exit-side modules can have Presto sensors installed in them. It's entirely plausible that a number of the gates were preconfigured, by the manufacturer or TTC, with fare payment on one side, prior to being installed here, and that they plan to add the tap out readers just before opening as it's supposed to be a quick and easy process.

 

[Megaton327]

I cannot believe after so many months Bloor-Yonge station still has only ONE presto loading machine and that it works like 30 percent of the time.

This is seriously my biggest complaint about Presto. I literally live above the station, so it's easier for me to load there on my way home rather than loading online, but half the time I'm there the machine isn't working.

Fortunately, per today's announcement, the Shoppers Drug Mart in that building is one of the Presto-enabled ones, so you can load there now! Likely much less crowded, too.

 

[PinkLucy]

@Megaton327 , do you have a link with the locations? The article I read didn't specify.

 

[W. K. Lis]

From the article:

Presto users will be able to buy cards, load money onto them, and check their balances at Shoppers stores, with the help of a mobile point-of-sale device that Metrolinx developed earlier this year. Customers will also be able to set child, student, and senior transit discounts on the cards.

Will I be able to get a PRESTO card for a child, student, or senior for a Christmas, birthday, Mother's Day, or Father's Day gift? Or will they need to be physically present (now breath...) to get a PRESTO card?

 

[Edward Skira]

News Release

Buy or Top-Up Your PRESTO Card at Select Shoppers Drug Mart Stores in Toronto
May 8, 2017

Ontario Making it Easier and More Convenient to Take Public Transit
Ontario is making it easier to take public transit and pay the fare by working with Shoppers Drug Mart to sell and load PRESTO cards at select stores in Toronto.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and Trinity-Spadina MPP Han Dong visited Shoppers Drug Mart on King Street West in Toronto today to announce the arrangement between Shoppers Drug Mart and Metrolinx, which operates PRESTO.

Beginning today, customers will be able to buy, load, and set discounts for children, elementary and high school students and seniors on their PRESTO cards at 10 Shoppers Drug Mart locations across the city, with more locations to be added later this year. An up-to-date list of all PRESTO retail outlets is available at prestocard.ca.

Making transit more convenient and accessible is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.


QUICK FACTS

• PRESTO is an electronic, reloadable fare card, based on smart-card technology that allows customers to use a single fare payment method across 11 transit systems in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Ottawa: Brampton Transit, Burlington Transit, Durham Region Transit, GO Transit, Hamilton Street Railway (HSR), MiWay, Oakville Transit, OC Transpo, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), UP Express and York Region Transit/Viva (YRT/Viva)
• More than 2.7 million PRESTO cards are currently in use across these 11 transit systems.
• Any customer can load funds onto their cards at these locations, however, adding a monthly or weekly pass can only be done through existing customer service outlets within the transit agency’s operating area, or online at prestocard.ca
• Once the child, elementary and high school student or senior discount is set on the card, the discount will apply to fares on all participating transit systems using PRESTO in the GTHA and Ottawa.
• Pre-loaded PRESTO cards are also available at 60 Gateway Newstands locations across the TTC network.

 

[JamesKoole]

Heading home from a trip to Vancouver, where I had the chance to see how Compass works out there. I purchased a regular, reloadable card from a fare vending machine at YVR and loaded it up with $20 in funds. They charge the same $6 for the card, but if you return it, you get that back.

I also created an account on Compasscard.ca to see how that compares.

The tap on and off system is nice, but causes a few line ups here and there during rush periods. That said, their gates work well and I saw a grand total of zero that were out of service across the five or six stations I visited. Bus trips are tap on only, but I didn't ride a bus while I was there.

They run a 2-hour transfer system which works well. The displays on the turnstyles tell you your balance whenever they deduct from it. Otherwise you see just a check mark.

It appears that you can go into the negative. I saw a few people with negative balances of less than a buck or two. There are also exit fare machines in the fare paid area for those who need to top up to get off the system.

Lastly, they also have single use cards - paper with RFID embedded. I used one of those to get from downtown to the start of the marathon (provided in our race kit). You needed to remember to keep the card because you needed it to tap out of the station as well. They have a two zone system there, plus an add-fare for trips from YVR.

All in all, it was very familiar to anyone who uses Presto, but overall it seemed to be smoother and easier to understand. The website was similar and reloading was easy online or at a machine. All Skytrain and Canada Line stations have multiple fare vending machines in the non-fare paid area where you can get reloadable cards, paper cards or where you can load up your card. The machines were far superior to the ones here.

 

[Megaton327]

@Megaton327 , do you have a link with the locations? The article I read didn't specify.

Ah, of course. It's at https://www.prestocard.ca/en/find-an-outlet/customer-service-outlets - weirdly they've put "Shoppers Drug Mart" as a separate heading alongside all of the other headings which are transit agencies:

At select Shoppers Drug Mart locations, you can purchase a PRESTO card, load it with money or set up a concession, such as child, student or senior. Current Shoppers Drug Mart locations that offer PRESTO services are:

• Agincourt Mall - 2330 Kennedy Road, Toronto
• Eglinton and Dufferin - 1840 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto
• Hudson’s Bay Centre - 20 Bloor Street East, Toronto
• King and Peter - 388 King Street West, Toronto
• King and Strachan - 901 King Street West, Toronto
• Queen and Carlaw - 970 Queen Street East, Toronto
• Queen and Bathurst - 524 Queen Street West, Unit A, Toronto
• Queen Street West - 1033 Queen Street West, Unit A, Toronto
• Weston and Lawrence - 1995 Weston Road, Toronto
• Westway Plaza - 1735 Kipling Avenue, Toronto

 

[Avenue]

There's probably an ultra-bureaucratic answer to why this isn't happening but I've always thought Presto cards should have been sold and topped up at TTC booths. From day one.

 

[nfitz]

ISO/IEC 14443 gives each card a Unique ID (akin to an Ethernet card's MAC address) that allows a reader to detect multiple cards in the read field and select them individually for query. Only one of the cards in your wallet will have the Presto application on it (unless you have two or more Presto cards, but that's another conversation) and once the reader has identified that card it will be the only one it continues to dialog with.

But what about the 1 credit card and 2 debit cards I have in my wallet, that I'll also be able to pay with?

(and personally, I often have 1-2 other Presto cards in my wallet - it's not like my 9-year old is going to have it most of the time ... but then I don't try and tap my wallet!)

 

[nfitz]

The TTC hasn't said anything to suggest that this is gonna happen, and the fare gates they have at York U suggest that it won't

Tap off in the subway?

TTC made the official decision to do this back in 2015.


Of course, TTC approved upgrading the SRT to accomadate new cars and longer stations for $190 million back in 2006 - and that hasn't happened ... so who knows what will really happen.

There's probably an ultra-bureaucratic answer to why this isn't happening but I've always thought Presto cards should have been sold and topped up at TTC booths. From day one.

Because that would have required that the new Presto equipment for the booths be installed first. For whatever reason, that's further down the schedule - perhaps because they wanted to deal with all the wiring issues for the fare line first - as that might have implications on what they want to put in the booths.

 

[Avenue]

Because that would have required that the new Presto equipment for the booths be installed first. For whatever reason, that's further down the schedule - perhaps because they wanted to deal with all the wiring issues for the fare line first - as that might have implications on what they want to put in the booths.

Why aren't the preloaded Presto cards being sold by TTC staff at fare booths instead of Gateway Newstands? That doesn't require any sort of equipment installing, to my knowledge.
Is there any indication that this will ever happen?

 

[nfitz]

Why aren't the preloaded Presto cards being sold by TTC staff at fare booths instead of Gateway Newstands? That doesn't require any sort of equipment installing, to my knowledge. Is there any indication that this will ever happen?

Good question. Ultimately, there aren't supposed to be fare booths, so perhaps they felt it better not to create false expectations. You should ask TTC.

 

[amnesiajune]

Ultimately, there aren't supposed to be fare booths, so perhaps they felt it better not to create false expectations.

There's still a need for fare booths and station staff though. Presto just means that you don't have to staff every single station for 20 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

[nfitz]

There's still a need for fare booths and station staff though. Presto just means that you don't have to staff every single station for 20 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Or every station ... or have them on the fare line - they'd be more useful somewhere else, to not bottleneck the fareline (at busier stations at least). And you see this elsewhere, where there is an occasionally staffed booth, on a back wall.