Wow I just woke up and this post became LONG!
Thanks guys! I gotta see which way I can save money, by not tapping it at the end of the trip or by tapping it at the end of my trip...trippy stuff

Originally Posted by Watoko

Actually, no.

My trip from Mac to York worked like this:

Tap on at Mac: Took off $4.50
Tap off at York: Took off another $6.60

My total trip costed $11.10 (with a student PRESTO card), as opposed to $8.43 with a 10-ride ticket

I want my 10-ride tickets back please!

Are you sure? Check your online balance, if it actually cost you 11.10 I would talk to someone about that because that seems more expensive than even 1 ride.

Just a warning about PRESTO as I just had to deal with this issue:

There's the option to have a "default" destination trip. With this type of setting, apparently you only have to tap on ONCE (not when you get on and off!!). I was not told this. I always knew you had to tap on and off, and the attendant who issued me the card told me this too.
However, what happened was every time I tapped, I got charged. I had to tap when I got on/off the train and then on/off the bus. I was charged 4x just to get to Mac. If you take a direct bus to Mac, you'd be charged 2x each way by tapping on and off.

What I found out was this type of setting isn't allowed for buses! I got refunded for the unnecessary charges but only after having to talk to several people. I think a lot of drivers and attendants don't know about this. Please check if you have this setting!

How do you get student pricing? Do you have to be taking summer school like you do for the mac summer hsr pass?

Originally Posted by Abhimint

Wow I just woke up and this post became LONG!
Thanks guys! I gotta see which way I can save money, by not tapping it at the end of the trip or by tapping it at the end of my trip...trippy stuff

According to this it will always be cheaper to tap off

https://www.prestocard.ca/en/StaticContent/Faq/#using7

Originally Posted by RyanC

How do you get student pricing? Do you have to be taking summer school like you do for the mac summer hsr pass?

I just went and asked them to convert it to student and they did. They told me I would have to come back before October when i get my fall/winter sticker to renew it. Thing is, I didn't show them my student card sticker since I am not taking any summer courses hehe. If they actually ask to see it just say you forgot it somewhere, get a friend who is taking a course to grab your card to convert it for you

edit: actually just checked their website and it said this which I find really weird because I probably put in my birthday when registering the card:

Are discounts available for children, students or seniors?

PRESTO recognizes three reduced-rate fare categories: child (6-12 years); student (13-19 years); senior (age 65 and above).

Originally Posted by yoni

I just went and asked them to convert it to student and they did. They told me I would have to come back before October when i get my fall/winter sticker to renew it. Thing is, I didn't show them my student card sticker since I am not taking any summer courses hehe. If they actually ask to see it just say you forgot it somewhere, get a friend who is taking a course to grab your card to convert it for you

edit: actually just checked their website and it said this which I find really weird because I probably put in my birthday when registering the card:

Are discounts available for children, students or seniors?

PRESTO recognizes three reduced-rate fare categories: child (6-12 years); student (13-19 years); senior (age 65 and above).

There are different rates for students in secondary school (what you quoted above) and university students.

Originally Posted by Watoko

Actually, no.

My trip from Mac to York worked like this:

Tap on at Mac: Took off $4.50
Tap off at York: Took off another $6.60

My total trip costed $11.10 (with a student PRESTO card), as opposed to $8.43 with a 10-ride ticket

I want my 10-ride tickets back please!

Really? Weird because I recently went home from mac --> york and when i tapped on, it took off $11 immediately. Then when I tapped off at york, it added around $2 something so I saw a +$2.xx

Check out http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/fares/presto.aspx for all the information regarding PRESTO and how it works on GO transit.

Well my 10 ride ticket that I bought a while ago finally ran out so now I gotta deal with this Presto thing. Should be pretty straightforward right? I mean I see tons of people using it and they seem to have it figured out. Surely a university educated lad like myself would have no problem figuring out something simple like a transit card, right?



So I'm at Mimico station near Toronto and I inform the fine young gentlelad behind the counter that I would please like 1 presto card, thx. I gave him $60 and he gives me a card.

Curiously, he asked me whether I ever take the train to Hamilton. Seeing as I'm at Mimico, which has no bus connections, this was rather perplexing because there is no other way to get to Hamilton from Mimico but take the train. "Yes, I usually take the train from here."



I ask him about the student rate, and he tells me that I need to go online to register it, wait 24 hours, then come back to a GO station and set it up. So I need to go online first, then come back? Okay, whatever.



So, let's say I'm going from Mimico to McMaster. There are 4 possible places where I tap:
1. At the train station before I get on the train
2. At the train station after I get off the train
3. On the bus when I get on the bus
4. On the bus when I get off the bus

Which of these places am I supposed to tap? Now I'm looking at a sign at the train station at Aldershot. There are like 4 different scenarios. Oh, it depends on which type of Presto card I bought? What? What kind of Presto card did I buy? I just did whatever the people in front of me did, and followed their lead. Tap tap tap, whatever, yo.



So now I'm safely home, time to register my Presto card. Or do I need to activate it first before I register it? Well let's go on the site to find out!

Registered PRESTO cards purchased online must be activated before first use. Anonymous cards purchased online, or in person at a customer service outlet do not require activation.

Oh, did I purchase an "anonymous card" when I bought my card in person? What does that mean? I guess I didn't show him any ID or set anything up when I bought it...so okay, guess I'll just register it.

I try to register my card.

PRESTO Card is not activated

Oh, okay, fine, I'll go activate it.

1.Enter your 17 digit PRESTO card number and PIN code below.

What? What's my PIN code? Is that the 3 digit number on the back of my card? Nope, it needs to be 4 digits. So do I just make it up right now? okay, try that.

Activation of your PRESTO Card has failed, verify your Farecard Number or your Cardholder PIN.

And I give up.

@Twelve Chars simple rule to follow: tap on whenever you are getting on the bus tap off when you get getting off, than tap on when you are getting on the train, and tap off when you are getting off. As for registration, you need to wait approximately 24 hours before registration, than after registration wait another 24 hours than visit any GO agency and ask them to put your concession as student.

Had the exact same problem as you, was stuck in an endless loop

Guy at ticket counter didn't tell me I had to wait 24 hours before registering/activating...

Originally Posted by RyanC

Had the exact same problem as you, was stuck in an endless loop

Guy at ticket counter didn't tell me I had to wait 24 hours before registering/activating...

I registered mine online right away was fine o_o

@Twelve Chars

Pretty sums up my experience as well! A couple days after I got my card, I went to register/activate and had the exact same problem as you did, and so I went to Hamilton GO station the next day hoping to get it sorted out. I asked the guy about my PIN and he was staring at me like I was speaking in another language. He kept saying that there was no PIN and told me I was doing something wrong. SOOOO...I gave up with that guy and left.

A week later, I decided to give PRESTO another chance. Went back onto the ugly green site, registered and it worked!

You would think that a widely used system like this would be more user friendly, especially the website...

Originally Posted by Twelve Chars

Well my 10 ride ticket that I bought a while ago finally ran out so now I gotta deal with this Presto thing. Should be pretty straightforward right? I mean I see tons of people using it and they seem to have it figured out. Surely a university educated lad like myself would have no problem figuring out something simple like a transit card, right?

You would think with a service called "presto" it would be (i) quick and (ii) easy, right? Too bad I got like 4 sets of documents in the envelope lmao. First world problem, I suppose?