User:PRESTO card/Sandbox

PRESTO System Project

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Company type	Public (Nasdaq: SBUX)
Industry	Restaurants Retail Coffee and Tea Retail Beverages Entertainment
Founded	In 1971 across from Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington
Founder	Zev Siegel, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington, USA
Key people	Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO Martin Coles, President, Starbucks International Troy Alstead, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Gillett, Chief Information Officer
Products	Whole Bean Coffee Boxed Tea Made-to-order beverages Bottled beverages Baked Goods Merchandise Frappuccino beverages Smoothies
Services	Coffee
Revenue	US$9.411 billion (2007)
Operating income	US$1.053 billion (2007)
Net income	US$672.64 million (2007)
Total assets	US$5.343 billion (2007)
Total equity	US$2.284 billion (2007)
Number of employees	172,000 (2008)
Subsidiaries	Starbucks Coffee Company Tazo Tea Company Seattle's Best Coffee Torrefazione Italia Hear Music Ethos Water
Website	[1]

The PRESTO card, originally known as the GTA Farecard, is a smartcard-based fare payment system for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The system was trialed from June 25, 2007 to September 30, 2008. Implementation is to be conducted in phases. The province has announced Accenture will be contracted to implement the card system. Metrolinx will be responsible for administering the fare card.

2007 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 throught 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.

Since the PRESTO System Project is a provincial program, OC Transpo in Ottawa will also implement the program by winter of 2011.

During the Launch 1 trial, the PRESTO card could be used at:

• GO Transit (Meadowvale and Cooksville GO stations only)
• Mississauga Transit (shuttle routes of 60 Meadowvale Shuttle-Crosscurrent, 62 Cooksville Shuttle-Webb, 63 Cooksville Shuttle-Kaneff, 64 Meadowvale Shuttle-Montevideo only)
• Toronto Transit Commission (Union subway station only)

Roll-out

Starting in fall 2009 the PRESTO card will be introduced in three stages:

Stage One - fall 2009

• Field Trial
  • GO Transit
    • Union Station
    • Oakville rail station
    • Bronte rail station
  • Toronto Transit Commission
    • Union Station

Stage Two - winter 2010

• Go Transit
  • Lakeshore West GO Rail line
• Oakville Transit
• Burlington Transit

Stage Three

• Summer 2010
  • GO Transit
    • Milton and Georgetown GO Rail lines and associated GO Bus routes
  • Brampton Transit
  • Mississauga Transit

• Fall 2010
  • GO Transit
    • Barrie, Stouffville and Richmond Hill GO Rail lines ssociated GO Bus routes
  • Hamilton Street Railway
  • York Region Transit
  • Toronto Transit Commission
    • Bloor-Yonge Subway Station
    • College Subway Station
    • Don Mills Subway Station
    • Downsview Subway Station
    • Dundas Subway Station
    • Finch Subway Station
    • Kipling Subway Station
    • Islington Subway Station
    • Queens Park Subway Station
    • St. George Subway Station
    • St. Patrick Subway Station
    • Finch Subway Station

• Winter 2011
  • GO Transit
    • Lakeshore East GO Rail line and associated GO Bus routes
  • Durham Region Transit

Stage Four - winter-2011

• OC Transpo

Toronto Transit Commission

While all other transit systems in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton will fully implement the card, the Toronto Transit Commission had expressed concerns over the cost to implement the card system. The TTC has only committed to implement the card at five of its major subway stations by 2010. As the majority of commuters in the GTA use the TTC, this plan would greatly limit the use of the fare card to the smaller suburban transit systems. The TTC has approved in principle the development of a smartcard system that is compatible with PRESTO. The project has received $140 million in funding from the provincial and federal governments, however the TTC has estimated in its 2009-2013 budget that the project would take $365 million to complete.

How to use

The cards are available at transit depots, retail outlets, and online for $5. At the time of receiving the card, a pass or a money value of at least $20 must be loaded into the card. This system is more advanced than others because rather than just money values, passes (up to three per transit system at a time) can also be stored in the card. When boarding, riders tap the prepaid card, embedded with a computer chip, on a reader. The reader will check for either the pass's expiry date, or automatically deduct the fare from the card. The fact that the cards work on multiple transit systems is only one of their advantages. While the Presto card is automatically set for adult fares, the card can also be set for fares of a different category. A feature allows more value to be added before the card runs out. Lost cards of registered users remain active within 24 hours after reporting the loss. After that, the lost card is blocked and a replacement card holding the money value or pass(es) of the lost card is given to the user with a replacement fee of $5. If there isn't enough money on the card for the journey, a user may still ride on once, as long as the balance of the card isn't $0 or lower. However, the card will have a negative balance and a small fee will apply. The card will let you board for the lowest available fare and will have a loyalty program offering savings to frequent travellers.

See also

• Electronic money
• List of smart cards

External links

• Official Presto Card Website