After today’s story about Gilles Coughlan and his experience being wrongly charged for using his Presto card, I’ve received a number of additional complaints and observations from readers. One’s from a longtime correspondent:
There is another wrinkle that doesn’t seem to be well known. Wednesdays are free for Seniors. I have a Seniors pay per use Presto card. If I tap in on a Wednesday it will charge my account. An OC Transpo employee at the Rideau Centre told me the Presto system is not smart enough to recognize Seniors traveling on Wednesdays. This is not shown anywhere in the Presto information. Seniors beware!
I talked to David Pepper, OC Transpo’s manager in charge of the Presto customer experience. He acknowledged that this is true.
“The system architecture didn’t address it, because that fare structure was in its infancy” when the Presto system was being designed, he said. From year to year lately, OC Transpo has bounced around with different free times and days for seniors, in addition to usual discount passes, and it’s all been a bit chaotic. But the point is that when OC Transpo and Metrolinx worked out their deal, back around 2008, the idea of seniors riding free was just a glint in someone’s eye, so it wasn’t written into the Presto spec.
The system is designed to accommodate new fare categories and whatnot in the future, but for now they’re sticking with the basics, Pepper said. Practically speaking, he said, it’s no different from now, when seniors don’t need to bother digging out paper passes or plunking coins or tickets into the farebox. It’s one little thing to remember, but most people have no trouble remembering not to pay bus fare when they don’t have to.
