PRESTO App?
- Thread starter Keebler Elf
- Start date
Not everyone has a smart phone.
But everyone can use a card.
Still, they could have both
Plus if you look at the card readers on the vehicles they dont seem to be set up to read from smartphones
A couple of potential reasons:
1. Not all phones have NFC support required to perform tap
2. Testing different phone variants would be expensive and always incomplete
3. iPhone don't expose tap functionality to 3rd party devs
So they could release something but it wouldn't work on all phones and result in complaints/support overhead. Easier just to not do anything.
Couldn't they just do an app with a bar code reader? It's not rocket science and doesn't have to be tap...
Well the system is built entirely around tap, so that would require updating every reader to include a scanner as well. For outdoor readers at a GO station for example, the scanner would be impacted by the weather (rain and snow). Also scanners are finicky (hold at the right angle, glare/reflection/smudging of the phone screen) so that would back up people getting through.
Yeah, cuz I care what they do with my transit using habits.
Only someone scared of authority or with something to hide would let their lives be made unnecessarily difficult due to a paranoid fear that "big brother is watching." Yeah, he's watching and doesn't give two shits about you unless you're doing something illegal. In which case, that's what he's there for!!!
What if MetroLinx also sells your location data to an ad agency that bombards you with 'personalized' messages about nearby stores?Yeah, cuz I care what they do with my transit using habits.
Only someone scared of authority or with something to hide would let their lives be made unnecessarily difficult due to a paranoid fear that "big brother is watching." Yeah, he's watching and doesn't give two shits about you unless you're doing something illegal. In which case, that's what he's there for!!!
I don't have any difficulty with police getting that info after obtaining appropriate warrants. I do have a problem with MetroLinx thinking it's theirs to hand over to others as they choose.
My point exactly, no problem with police getting info as long as they have just cause and a warrant. It's only a matter of time till they start selling your travel records to advertisers to make more money. No different than Facebook.
Their terms of use covers that. We're talking about turning over information to the police.
My thoughts exactly. Phone technology moves quickly and NFC (required so people can tap their phones) is not universal on all phones. The Presto Card website is already mobile optimized so you can do everything like add funds, check balance, etc. on your phone so an app is not really necessary. The only feature the web-site is obviously missing is the ability to tap on the Presto readers.
I was ready to consider it for a METROPASS...until I remembered that so many stations entrances do not have the hardware for it....only the real metropass readers...so screw that.
I view Metrolinx as an additional TAX to Ontario commuters...WHY or why do we have a idiotic government run company to try and consolidate payments for separate transit, and they cannot that cannot budget properly for new infrastructure, or forecast, or even introduce a new payment system that constantly fails.
I view Metrolinx as an additional TAX to Ontario commuters...WHY or why do we have a idiotic government run company to try and consolidate payments for separate transit, and they cannot that cannot budget properly for new infrastructure, or forecast, or even introduce a new payment system that constantly fails.
That's right. You cannot use a Presto card at any of the automated (aka not staffed) entrances with the old style turnstiles that go up to the ceiling. They will all have to be replaced at some point to enable Presto.
I also don't get why Presto is failing so much on the TTC because it isn't a new system and so many other systems including GO use it. They must have rushed things through without accounting for the old systems on the TTC.
