Background
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), together with GO Transit, Ottawa’s OC Transpo, and eight municipal transit partners within the GTHA undertook the design and development of a seamless regional transit farecard system (Presto) based on contactless (“Smartcard”) technology. Implementation is now the responsibility of Metrolinx, of which Presto became an operating division in 2011.
The Presto system is designed to support the use of one common farecard for fare payment on the various participating public transit systems. Presto will allow customers to ride on any participating transit system without pre-purchasing tickets or passes and without needing to know the fare policies of each system in advance. The Presto card, which is the size of a gift or debit card, will use “stored-value” in the form of a common electronic purse (e-Purse) as the medium for all fare payment transactions in addition to cash. Electronic readers will scan the customer’s Presto card (which contains a passive RFID chip within the card) as they board their public transit vehicle or enter a station calculating the correct fare and deducting it from their card balance - all within one-third of a second. Unlike paper tickets or passes, the card is made of durable plastic for extended use. The system will also allow customers the choice of loading their Presto card with cash value via preauthorized (autoload) payments, by telephone, Internet and at selected retails outlets. Customers with “registered” cards will be able to replace the value on a lost or stolen card, unlike tickets, tokens, passes or cash.
The Presto system will provide transit participants with centralized farecard procurement, initialization and distribution, reporting services, revenue clearing and settlement, customer call centre and Internet services, maintenance and support and Third Party Sales Agency Management.
The Presto system will provide the following customer and transit system benefits:
- A common means for all fare payments;
- Faster system boarding to improve transit efficiencies;
- Support seamless transit service in the GTHA and across Ontario;
- Provide a simple and convenient payment option that reduce monthly line-ups;
- Enhanced security for the protection of value on lost or stolen cards;
- Improved convenience translated to increased transit use addressing congestion and environmental concerns;
- Provide a standardized technology platform; and
- Potential extension of Presto concept to other services, such as parking, and municipal services, joint ventures.
Read more about this topic: Presto Card
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