Presto card
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| Location | Greater Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa |
|---|---|
| Launched | Fall 2009 |
| Technology | |
| Operator | Accenture |
| Manager | Metrolinx |
| Currency | CAD ($10 minimum load, $1000 maximum load) |
| Stored-value | e-Purse, period pass |
| Credit expiry | None |
| Auto recharge | Autoload |
| Validity | |
| Retailed |
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| Website | |
The Presto card (stylized as PRESTO) is a contactless smart card fare payment system in Ontario, Canada which can be used on GO Transit, Union Pearson Express and 9 local Greater Toronto and Hamilton area and Ottawa public transit systems. Presto card readers were trialled from June 25, 2007 to September 30, 2008. Full implementation began in November 2009 and it will be rolled out across the province in stages. Presto is an operating division of Metrolinx, the Ontario government agency that manages and integrates road transport and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
One of the 10 strategies of The Big Move, the GTHA's regional transportation plan, was to create an integrated transit fare system amongst the 10 public transit agencies in the GTHA. The Presto system was designed to support the use of one common method of fare payment on various participating public transit systems, comparable with other systems such as London's Oyster card and Hong Kong's Octopus card.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), GO Transit, Ottawa’s OC Transpo, and eight municipal transit partners within the GTHA undertook the design and development of a seamless regional transit farecard system (Presto) based on contactless technology.
Thales Group and Accenture were awarded the contract to supply this system in October 2009. Implementation is the responsibility of Metrolinx, of which Presto became an operating division in 2011. The Presto project was strongly criticized by the Auditor General of Ontario in 2012 for "roll-out glitches, cost escalations and untendered contract extensions.". The ongoing Presto rollout on the TTC's bus, subway and streetcar network have been marred with abnormally high failure rates of the readers themselves and cost overruns.
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Wikipedia