User:PRESTO card/SandboxFeb10

The Presto card (corporately styled PRESTO card, and originally known as the GTA Farecard) is a smartcard-based fare payment system for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, and Ottawa. The system was trialed from June 25, 2007 to September 30, 2008. Full implementation began in November of 2009 and will be rolled out across the province in stages. The province has announced Accenture has been contracted to implement the card system.

Background
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), together with GO Transit, Ottawa’s OC Transpo, and eight municipal transit partners within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area have undertaken the design, development and implementation of a seamless regional transit farecard system (Presto) based on contactless (“Smartcard”) technology. 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.

Participating service providers

 * GO Transit
 * Oakville Transit
 * Burlington Transit
 * Brampton Transit
 * Mississauga Transit
 * Hamilton Street Railway
 * York Region Transit
 * Durham Region Transit
 * OC Transpo
 * Toronto Transit Commission (12 subway stations)

2007/08 trial
In July 2007, 500 commuters who normally commute from Meadowvale and Cooksville GO stations in Mississauga to Union Station in downtown Toronto received a free card and tried the system under Launch 1. The Launch 1 trial concluded September 30, 2008. Because Mississauga has a neighbourhood shuttle service in Meadowvale and Cooksville to ferry passengers to GO Transit, officials thought it would be the perfect environment to test the fare system. Most of the implementation will be completed by 2010, giving the Greater Toronto Area's local and regional transit operators a single fare-payment system to replace the current mixture of passes, tickets, tokens, and cash-based systems. The GTA operations area covers over 8,100 square kilometres, and is home to about 5.5 million transit riders. During the Launch 1 trial, the PRESTO card could be used at:
 * Mississauga Transit (shuttle routes of 60 Meadowvale Shuttle-Crosscurrent, 62 Cooksville Shuttle-Webb, 63 Cooksville Shuttle-Kaneff, 64 Meadowvale Shuttle-Montevideo only)
 * GO Transit (Meadowvale and Cooksville GO stations only)
 * Toronto Transit Commission (Union subway station only)

Rollout
Starting in fall 2009 the Presto card will be introduced in stages, as shown in the following table:

While all other transit systems in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area will have the card fully implemented, the Toronto Transit Commission has at present only committed to implement the Presto System at twelve of its major subway stations. As a large number of commuters in the GTHA use the TTC, the full implementation of Presto within the TTC would greatly benefit the usability of the farecard. The TTC has approved the use of a smartcard system and is working with Presto in addressing the TTC’s business requirements for “full” system participation. An initial funding allocation of $140 million has been earmarked by the Provincial and Federal Governments and the City of Toronto, however the TTC has estimated in its 2009-2013 budget that the project would take $365 million to complete.

How to use
The cards will be available at transit depots, over the phone and online for $6. At the time of receiving the card, a minimum money value of $10 must be loaded into the card. Beginning in Stage 3, cardholders will also be able to load passes (for up to three transit systems at a time) on to their Presto card. When boarding, riders tap the prepaid card, embedded with an RFID chip, on to a reader. The reader will then check for either a valid transit pass, or automatically deduct the lowest available fare from the card. Loyalty programs are also available on some transit systems, where frequent use of the system results in greater discounts on fare payment. The fact that the Presto card works on multiple transit systems is only one of its advantages:
 * Concession fares: While the Presto card is automatically set for adult fares, starting in Stage 3 registered cardholders will have the option to set their cards to automatically deduct either student, senior or child fares.
 * Autoload: The Autoload feature allows cardholders to have a predetermined value automatically loaded onto their Presto card, when the e-Purse value reaches a specified threshold.
 * Lost card replacement: If a registered cardholder loses their Presto card, they have the ability to have their lost card blocked within 24 hours of and the remaining balance transferred to a replacement card.
 * Underpayment allowance: If a registered card has insufficient funds to pay a fare, but the balance is greater than $0, the cardholder has the ability to go into underpayment and incur a negative balance for one trip for a small fee.