from: D.F.to: cj@thiscrazytrain.com
date: Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 2:20 PM
subject: Presto
I was on the LSE train home the other day and we got checked yet again for tickets. I swear they check twice a week lately.
Anyhoo, this woman sitting across from me, busy using her Blackberry has a Presto card and when the GO Transit officer tapped it, it didnt beep. Long story short, this woman since she purchased her Presto card over two months ago has only been tapping on in the mornings. She told the officer that he was wrong, that when she purchased the Presto card she was told it automatically knew where she was going and she only had to tap once a day.
So the guy explains to her how it really works and then asks her if after initially putting $150 on her card over two months ago, has she since refilled her card? She said no and he said, "Didn't you think you were getting a really good deal?"
After that, I literally LOL'd at her. Anyway, he wrote her a ticket. I wonder which is cheaper, the ticket or the fact that she's only been paying half price for the past 2 months?! I am also shocked that she has never been checked before now since, as I mentioned, GO is checking tickets much more frequently than ever before.
12 comments:
Wow... that is some kind of special. Both for her reading comprehension and the "fare" sale that apparently happened by Presto. The ticket is probably cheaper than the fares, so she did get a deal. And at least he wrote her a ticket and didn't jsut give her a warning.
I am also 99% certain that I haven't had a ticket checked this month. October, it was constant. Maybe they are switching up which trains they are ticketing.
She could have had fares checked in the mornings, when the card would beep just fine.
Just checked my Presto account and I have been checked 6 times this month on the LSE. $150 wouldn't even cover me one way for 2 months - that's a serious "deal" !
You do only need to tap once IF you have set up a default trip at the GO counter.
If you do an override when tapping on and forget to tap off - you cannot register another trip until you are reset at one of the GO Counters (which incurs a administrative cost) If she still had the 150 on her card she was not even getting charged if she tapped on. If she set no default tapping on and not off would freeze her card as well.
I think that this lady probably knows these rules and was getting away esp. if she knew her initial credit to the card was not dwindling over those two months.
Some people do get creative when their finances are tight. - Who knows what her background story may be.
What I find fascinating is the discretion that the Go EMPLOYEES EXERT and who they give a pass to and who they do not.
One lady had a pass which she did not cancel for her trip. She claimed that she did not know how or what to do. Just prior to being checked she was on the phone making extensive meet up plans with someone giving directions. She sounded like someone who had ridden the GO before.
They did not even ask for her ID so they could give her a warning and have her in their system to see if she tried her scam again.
I am glad they are checking - perhaps they will increase their revenue, improve their service, and clean all their coaches. (starting to feel like the TTC).
Presto Default Trips require a passenger to
1. Tap on at their originating station at the start of their trip.
2. Tap on at their destination station when returning home.
You tap twice daily when you have a default setting. Not once.
For example, CJ arrives at Oshawa station in the morning. She has Union set as her default trip for her first ride. She taps.
When she arrives at Union, she does not tap anything and goes to work.
At night, after work, she arrives at Union and taps on to return to Oshawa. When she gets off at Oshawa, she does not tap off.
You must tap twice a day.
If you're only tapping once, you're cheating the system.
If you have no default trip set, you would be tapping 4 times a day.
I love it when GO Transit employees come on! Almost as much as text messages. I don't know why....I think b/c it gives me hope.
But it seems to me that her explanation is that she doesn't have to tap again at night because it's a return trip? Either way, she got a great deal by just getting the ticket.
I can't remember the last time I got checked, probably August sometime.
I ride LSW and don't remember the last time I was ticket checked - I don't think at all in November...
I ride LSW trains and haven't been checked since the spring. But it seems like whenever they do check, someone in the car I'm riding gets caught. Anyone else with the same experience?
The ticket police were on my lsw ride home at least 3 times last month.
I was talking about taps per trip entering and exiting vs when you are set up for the one default tap.
The train is nice and warm this morning.
Anon @4:06 - I've never seen anyone get caught and I'm so disappointed. SO looking forward to when it happens.
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