Presto upgrade coming
If you’re frustrated with your Presto pass experience, OC Transpo’s boss has some good news for you: An imminent upgrade to the system should address many of your issues, including shortening the time it takes to load money onto the system to a mere four hours.
The downside? Fixing the system to upload funds faster won’t be completed until sometime in the new year.
John Manconi, OC Transpo’s general manager, is scheduled to give a “major update” to the city’s transit commission on Monday about the upgrade to the 2.2 version of the Presto bus-payment system that has worked for scores of riders but is causing headaches for many others.
Manconi has admitted that, although there’s been excellent take-up of the green “tapand-go” cards, the city needs to work with Metrolinx — the provincial agency that manages the Presto system — to “improve the customer experience.”
Ottawa and Toronto will upgrade to Presto 2.2 at the same time, “very, very soon,” said Manconi. He won’t spell out the details until Monday’s meeting, but the technical update could be carried out this month.
The new version should mean a number of improvements to the system, such as allowing monthly pass holders to easily order a holiday stoppage online.
“You can do that right now, but it’s cumbersome. You have to fill out a form,” said Manconi.
The changes will also make it possible to either “upgrade or downgrade” passes online, an important option if, for example, someone moves or changes jobs and no longer needs the more costly express pass. And with the upgrade, Ottawa users will be able to use their Presto passes in Toronto, and vice versa.
These changes will occur quickly after the new version is implemented. However, it will take a couple of months — “first quarter of 2014,” is how Manconi put it — to improve the lag time many are experiencing from the time they put money on their cards and when it’s accessible for use.
Until now, bus riders had to wait anywhere from 24 to 48 hours before they could use the money they put on their cards. That’s because the on-board readers need to be updated at OC Tranpso depots in order to update the systems — and sometimes buses don’t make it to depots for a day or two.
The newer Presto version will include “the technology piece that will enable us to implement that fix” to shorten that lag time to a mere four hours, said Manconi, but “it’s going to take a little time.”
Manconi said that there will be some minor inconveniences during the upgrade — “nothing earthshattering” — that he will discuss at Monday’s meeting. For example, there will be a period when customers won’t be able to order a card online.
But he stressed that riders will still be able to tap and go during the upgrade, as long as they already have a loaded Presto card.