Presto! card

Worst customer service ever!!! Gave the run around. their cheap made card which cost 6 dollar… is a piece of junk… if you ever have a defect on your card. ask for a refund… Presto Card needs a lot of improvement… big time…

A great piece of technology that I just want to be implemented a bit faster. I got one when I started bus commuting to school and now I use it every day for my commute to work.
Here’s three tips for using it:
1) register your card. This way you can get it replaced if you lose it or it gets stolen.
2) Set up a default trip. There’s going to be one GO Train route you take more than any other. Set it up with your station as your default trip. That way you only need to tap on at the start of a leg & don’t need to tap off.
3) set up auto reload. You don’t need to think about it ever again. When your balance goes below a certain amount it will automatically reload.
Boom. You’re now an expert Presto user.
You’re welcome.

Worst card ever existed. Still there is no app to reload the card. Any reload online it takes 24hrs to show. I cannot believe they only need to take care of the technology of this card but it is so behind our times. I have no idea why we have to chose this card to use for go transit. Watch out Ttc. There will be ALOT of people complaining when the presto rolls out to you guys

I love presto it is so convenient! Auto — loading from credit card! No more buying transit in line. If only the ttc could finish rolling it out

I’ve been using this card for over 3 years now. It is a god send as I can simply use the card on so many different transit systems. It works on all flavours of the York Region Transit, Mississauga Transit, Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, HSR in Hamilton, GO Transit — buses and trains, plus others.
In the beginning I would go to the GO station to load — instant load. The manual online load takes 24 hrs for some reason. Automatic online load is the real way to go. Set the lower value such that your typical travel will be covered for a day and a half at worst. Watch the balance on your uses and the lights of the terminal. If your payment did not work out at Presto’s first attempt this will still allow you travel home or to your GO station or loading place to manually load or to contact Presto to fix the issue. Your automatic load amount is up to your comfort level. I find that a week’s worth is about right although others will load a month’s worth.
The really nice system is the co-​pay systems. Transferring from local to GO results in major savings, currently HSR becomes 50¢ if a GO ride is finished within the time window (about 2.5 hrs from 1^st tap on). Transfers from 1 local transit to another can result in NO additional charge! Even ones not adjoining like HSR and MiWay! The co-​pay varies among systems (50−75¢ typically), TTC does not do any at all as yet.
The TTC is just starting to change over to this payment system and there are limited portions of the system currently using this technology.
I used to need to carry multiple transit system tickets just in case I was to travel on them, as I have 3 systems within a short walk of home and 5 systems at work. What a pain it was at times when they chose to change the tickets, annually for rate changes. I ended up with a few old tickets that were useless each time as I did not use them often enough. That no longer is a concern except for the TTC for a bit longer.
I now wonder what happens when the card expiry approaches.

Do you know that it is illegal to record time how long it is takes for people to refill presto card at union go station. And it is illegal to measure how long it is takes for people to stand in the line.
When you will do this. Security will come to you.
When you will explain to them that you are doing school project for process optimization to learn about performance of the station and learn how to improve it.
Then you will be not just escorted out of station BUT also threatened to be arrested next time you will do it, As what you doing is suspicious activity. Is studying now suspicious activity? To study station performance is illegal? To find out better ways for process optimization is illegal?
Go representative told me that it is takes them 6 – 10 s to refill presto card at cashier.
The truth is that it takes between 30s — 3min. Sad news, they are under preforming 100% of the time.
With line ups of 200 — 300 people during rush hour.
The waiting time become 20 – 30 min incited of 7 min that go transit wants.
Why to hide the truth? why to stop students to learn and apply their knowledge to real life example not to theoretical once?

I lost my Presto card and I had to purchase a new one. I paid the $ 6 fee to purchase the card and followed the instructions, given my the Presto rep, of registering the card first and than transferring over the money I had in my old card. Well, turns out that was the WRONG way of doing it. Now Presto is telling me I wasn’t suppose to register the new card but was suppose to transfer the money. I have to buy a NEW card (pay another $ 6) and than transfer again. I don’t think Presto is informed of the current state of the economy. I’m not rich, paying a total of $ 12 for two cards (one that I don’t even need due to the misinformation by their representative) shows lack of capability (engineering disfunction) by MetroLinx.

I dislike Presto so much I can’t even be bothered to write an eloquent review
–loading online takes too long
–when I did load online it didn’t go through and weeks later ended up back in my account
–not enough machines at Union to load money on without waiting in ridiculous lines
–weird charging system makes it hard to understand how much fares cost

I received my card months ago but never activated it, when calling in to do so I was told it would take 24 hours. That burned me up but not as much as the terrible customer service I got from their representative, extremely rude.
What got me even more was that I went to a station and put money on the card before checking online to discover that the card was not active, they apparently were not supposed to put money on an inactive card.
This shows a classic example of ineptitude from the GO Station right through to Presto Customer Service. To be honest there is no point in writing a review or complaining because their are no repercussions to any of them for mistakes and bad service.

Garbage customer service. The old-​school tickets and cash worked much better … no headaches!

I am surprised by how many of the one star reviews have been filtered out. I have to agree more with most of the filtered reviews on this one.
The presto system and the customer service are both a nightmare if something goes wrong. And at least for me things go wrong all the time on presto. To name a few the card does not tap off properly. The system thinks I tapped on at a completely different location from where I am (and then the customer service representative has the audacity to tell me about their «accurate» GPS). And oh even better they charge you more than the fare for the trip.
It feels like they haven’t done any quality assurance checks at all. The other thing that annoys me is that the Go service and other transit systems are not integrated. Presto only works if you want to go to union station. But many people work in other areas like Yorkville, UofT and they will need to pay the base fare for TTC again. Paying twice for such a terrible transit system is ridiculous.
End rant!

I had been using my Presto! card for a few months now and everything seems to work fine.
I love that I don’t need to try to buy my ticket from the ticketing machine every time I need to get on the GO bus or train. Especially when it is freezing cold or rainy and I am running late! And the fact I saved 10% every trip.
I still don’t understand why it takes 24 hours for my loaded credit to show on my account even when I made the transaction directly at one of the ticket counters at Union Station.
Hopefully their technology would improve over the years and it is about time there is a stored value card for public transport.

This must be some money hungry business. I’m sure they won’t last long. This card isn’t convenient to use. At all. Not only are you only able to load this card online through the website but you have to wait 48hours for the card to actually load. You can go down to yrt on high tech to load the card but that isn’t always convenient. I can’t use this card if I use dial a ride. I also can’t use this card if I plan on taking a ttc bus within york region because you don’t get a transfer if you use the card. A minimum of $ 10 must be loaded. What if I don’t plan to use the card after a certain date? Then I gotta go through a process of getting my money off the card and back in my pocket. Not all ttc stations have presto. Total waste. You pay a bit less when using this card but I’m beginning to see that its not worth it.

This is the review for their customer service. I was being audited by the CRA for my transit, so I wanted to go in and check my records for my 2012 usage in August. Turns that out that they changed the system and you need to register again if you registered before May 31, 2013. I tried multiple times online and it didn’t work. That got me so annoyed. Also, who the heck gives such a long card number without any spaces? So easy to make a typo.
Anywho, I called customer service and at first they said I didn’t register… then they asked me for my addres and name — so if they have that, I obviously did register. It took about 30 minutes to reset my pin as it wasn’t working and the customer service rep said to me «when you were entering your pin, did you put us on hold because you have call waiting»? Really… I kept my cool and said «no, I’m not sure why it didn’t work, can I try again?» So yeah, after the 3^rd time, it finally worked.
Anywho, things are resolved, but I hate it when it takes more than 30 minutes to solve simple issues… ugh.

With the exception of the first month, my Presto Card has worked flawlessly. I guess I’ve been lucky.
A few things you have to remember:
— Try to avoid tapping your Presto Card in a wallet. I’ve had issues with that where the reader entering the bus read, but the driver side indicated error. If you bring your card out separately (or put it in a separate pouch in a wallet so you can easily take it out), it never has any problems.
— The TTC hasn’t fully implemented Presto yet. Please don’t judge Presto simply by what the TTC has, as that’s unfair compared to the true extent a la GO Transit and other suburban transit systems.
— Don’t reload your Presto Card unless you’re absolutely certain you will use your Presto Card in the 30 day window (or better yet, 7 day window). That’s where many of the reloading issues occur.
I’ve had a Presto Card since 2010, and I’ve only had one problem with it, which was related to my first point. Once that was solved, everything with my card worked as perfectly as expected, and coming from someone who visits multiple transit systems, the fact I don’t have to fiddle around with change makes this smart card very beneficial to me.

I’ve only used a Presto card for a few days now and I can say that I have a love/​hate relationship with it. Although you can do many things online, there is such a huge time delay before those updates happen that it makes online transactions useless. Instead, go to a GO station and perform your transactions there.
Pros:
— Saves me $ 0.50 per trip to use Presto over buying tickets.
— After 36 trips in a month, prices are drastically reduced.
— After 41 trips in a month, trips are free.
Cons:
— Presto cards are sent out before they’re available to use. It was 5 days before I could use mine.
— Hit and miss with the customer service phone number.
— It takes 24 hours before online reloads take effect. Come on… I can reload my Starbucks card online and immediately walk to a Starbucks store.
Tips:
— Perform any and all transactions at a GO station. They take effect immediately.
— Make sure to set a default trip so that you don’t have to tap off.

Well I guess the 8 Track was good, and the record and the tape… and beta was better than VHS… I MISS THE MONTHLY PASS… but now it is Presto time so here goes
a) You log your card on the presto system in order to receive your tax credit for travel
b) You can pre program your card so you can tap on (and don’t have to tap off) at the station… for example if your station is Pickering you can set your station as such on the system so that your Presto Pass is paid for on the tap on — and automatically determines that is your point of start/​stop
c) Can be a bit of getting used to initially — remember to tap your pass (as the monthly pass was a cardboard pass that you just carried as proof of payment — and didn’t need a card scanner)
d) Monthly pass you used to be able to bring a free passenger with you on weekend travel — NOT on this new Presto system :-(
e) Not any real perks on this new system at all — the more you use — the less your ride but no one really uses the Go Train beyond the 9 – 5 Mon-​Fri commuting lifestyle (so bang goes the money saved theory)
f) There are a lot of issues with the AUTOMATIC payment system — where users utilize their online banking to automatically deduct funds into their Presto Pass (there are a lot of glitches in the system and some people have taken months for refunds of $ overcharge — so best to go old school and deal with an actual person/​agent when putting funds into your Presto Pass (Additionally it keeps a person in a job and not a machine).
g) Go Transit prices just keep going up — and I guess its we the GO Train peeps that are paying for the Presto system technology.
Go Transit still has its faults with Presto — most of the technical issues seem to be getting better. I preferred the monthly pass — but those are now long gone — and merely a distant memory that go along with Wang computers and Atarii

I’m sure the Presto card works better for the GO transit system than it does for TTC. But I can only comment on the latter.
Can you believe, that I got one when it first came out, and waited until it finally installed a machine nearby at St. George Station. I still haven’t used it yet, and it probably is eating away at my wasted $ 20.
In order for me to use it, I had to travel down to Union Station to activate it. I don’t go there often, so abou a few months after I got the card, I finally made it down there.
Don’t confuse the Activation Machines with the machines that go an take your money. They seemingly simliar. When I activated it, it says that card error and I had to call them. So I called, and they said that it’s because it was too long since they gave it to me it wasn’t working. Okay, so she says that I can try again.
I tried again for the next 5 mins and it still said the same thing. I was standing in Union Station like a fool wondering what the hell was going on.
I called them, and they said, it was activated on the system end — but the MACHINE was giving me a different message. There was apparently some lag.
Fine so i left.
The next time I tried to use the card (probably at least more than a month after), it was STILL inactive. I went to Union again (at my convenience) and the same thing was happening. It’s awfully frustrating.
The same frustrations happened to AT when he first used it. It allowed him to OVER PAY (with a minus balance) and didn’t indicate it to him. When we went to reload the card, the online system didn’t allow him to reload on to a negative balance! The solution was to go to Union Station and have them do it in person, then go online and reload.
Maybe it’s all better now, but seems to me a failed process. It’s like the TTC doesn’t want these cards being used at all, but it was a great way to integrate modern payment system (we are one of the few archaic systems that still useds token/​tickets). Instead they *ucked it up.
If this card became more mainstream, I bet more people would take the subway, or be inclined to, instead of being reminded that each ride costs $ 3.00