Toronto Public Library - free Presto cards

vinnie1990 wrote: ↑ with the pilot of credit card tap at the terminals, I don't see how Presto is really required anymore. Long overdue as the whole presto platform is rather archaic given we could've always just used phones/watches/digital-wallets to tap, but obviously they wanted to do a money grab play.

ibuddler wrote: ↑ what's presto? do I require it in order to take buses?

jerry70450 wrote: ↑ The 24 hour wait applies to any transit card. It's just a limitation of technology.

krist8 wrote: ↑ A number of year back, TTC was still using paper tickets and tokens. It said it is too expensive to convert to a card system. Then all of a sun den, Presto card is in. What happened to the expense? My speculation is that the users pay for the system cost by paying for the card. It is a clever plan.

peji911 wrote: ↑ I would kill someone to get a Toronto library card. My city has few books to loan on Libby.

Catenary wrote: ↑ I'm well aware of the other options on the market. As I said, Presto implementation began in 2006, before contactless payment was really a thing. That doesn't account for development time before implementation either.

Should they have gone to the market and gotten a system from Cubic, S&B, ACS/Xerox/Conduent or another provider? Absolutely. Would that have significantly changed the system we got initially? Probably not.

Online loads were very new to contactless ticketing when Presto launched, and most systems didn't support it at all. If you wanted to do it with Oyster, not only was there a delay, you also had to select the station at which you would "pick up" your load at - not on a bus, an actual station. This generally wasn't an issue as there was a plethora of locations to load your card at otherwise, such as the expansive tube network and convenience stores which the GTHA lacked.

Presto is a great example of government contracting disaster, but a balanced look at it includes recognizing what was possible at the time.

sn00ch wrote: ↑ FYI - You don't have to live in Toronto to get a card. You can get one if you work or go to school in there. Alternatively, you can also pay for a card as a non-resident ($30 for 3 months or $120 for a year).

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/usi ... rary-card/

ForFoxSake wrote: ↑ For the people saying the cards should have been free in the first place....Presto charges a fee if your account goes into the negative. If the cards were free, people would just throw their card away and get another one so they didn't have to pay the fee. When I worked for transit I alone had collected over 200 "lost cards" that people would turn in and no one would ever claim. Look at how much plastic and metal is wasted in producing these things.

When CC tap comes out, I remember hearing that it would charge a service charge for using CC over presto.

Dash wrote: ↑ I also got charged to replace my presto card that cracked. I can accept having to pay for the first card. But it's definitely a cash grab when I can't get a free replacement since I'm transferring my existing balance over (whether negative or positive)

ForFoxSake wrote: ↑ Honestly my time at the TTC I realized that when the provincial politicians got involved with controlling the TTC, more and more things began making less sense.

samson wrote: ↑ Agree.... The card itself should be free. With CC taps, do you lose out with unlimited transfers in 2 hr window?

MrDisco wrote: ↑ Presto is a transit payment card, should you ever you visit Toronto. You can also use cash.