On one side, I can reload fares straight from my mobile phone. It really works like a bank card on buses/O-Train. The OPUS card requires preloading a fare onto the card from a dedicated terminal.
Second, just look at the thing, it just looks so much nicer. Red and white, instead of blue and orange.
Also, unifying public transport cards across the country is a hidden benefit. Take your card, tap and pay.
@EdwinG@heliomass In Amsterdam you just tap your credit card as you get on and off public transit. No faffing around with single-purpose cards whatsoever. And if you have your credit card in your Apple wallet it can be as simple as swiping your watch.
@fugumaki@EdwinG My hometown of (real) London is the same. I travel the tube just using my iPhone to tap in. It’s glorious, and even better you pay single fares until you reach a daily cap. No having to guess how many journeys you’ll take today in order to work out whether to use singles or a day pass.
@EdwinG Taking your post pedantically, Presto is owned and managed by Metrolinx. When you add funds to your card, the money goes to Metrolinx. When you use your card on transit system X, then Metrolinx transfers the trip value to transit system X (and takes a cut for card management). Québec would not take kindly to some foreign government outfit managing our transit.
@EdwinG Moving from ticket to stored cash value system would require conversion to tap in and tap out for any mode that crosses fare boundaries. Remember that for Montréal, cities outside of A don't contribute taxes to help run the A system, except for Longueuil and Laval who make "token" contributiosn to have metro on their territory. A fare gate in the metro has no idea what fare to charge you when you swipe because it doesn't know if you are to go 1 station or travel to Longueil/Laval.
@EdwinG If one doesn't tap out of the EXO trains, then everyone would be charged A fares even when going to C. Same with EXO buses that go from B terminus and serve B , C and D destinations. By having tickets on the card, it lets you honestly buy the ticket needed for your destination and that is the ticket debited by all far gates/readers.
@jfmezei Except that it doesn’t work that way in practice. The current zone system allows to be take an A fare, and go to zone C without paying the proper fare. Just don’t get caught on a fare control.
One solution is to bill the highest fare if you don’t tap out. Annoying if you forget, but it ensures that you always have the correct one.
There are ways to keep a zone system with a cash-based card.
@EdwinG You also need to add fare vending machines on the inside of fare gates so people can top up their cash value in their card if they have insufficient value to tap out.
@EdwinG It is possibe to institute a "tap out" system in ARTM territory.. But it would be a big change for both the transit agencies abnd people. Especially for the EXO Hudson line that has so many stations inside of A zone. And those stations would need more readers to tap out. (Heck, Dorval doesn't have a reader for westbound trains and you have to go underground and walk across tunnel to eastbound side, and reverse trip back to westbound to tap and catch train).
@EdwinG They would likely have to deploy todally different tap machines at train stations (and REM) not because the current ones coudn't do it, but to make sure that there are identified TAP out points that don't just do a transfer (which is what happens when you tap in).
In Washington, when you tap out of subway, the tap points are for tapping out only. ( fare paid side or fare gates).
@EdwinG It is a matter of the complexity when you need to handle all the edge cases.
In Washington going to Udvar Hazy:
Tap in at Enfant Plaza: $2 deducted from card
Tap out at Innovation: $4.00 deducted from card (total $6.00)
Tap in on Fairfax county bus: $0.00 deducted, transfer accepted.
Tap in it Fairfax bus: $2.00 deducted
Tap in at Innovation: I think $0.00 deducted (transfer accepted)
Tap out at U Street: $4.00 deducted (total $6.00 fare).
@EdwinG One problem is that with credit card or stored value, it is really easy to use but you end up paying more because buying passes for the day, 3 day, weekend etc is not so obvious. In Washington, I would have ended up saving mucho if I had bought a pass.
@EdwinG There is some flexibility with credit card because the transit agency can do back office work to figure out how much to charge you for the day, week, month. But for stored value smart card, I think the logic need to be more "live" to know how much to deduct from your card as you pass by the turnstyle.
@jfmezei I know, I know. It does say Metrolinx on the back.
All that applies to Québec’s Crown Corporation (or whatever legal entity it is) responsible for OPUS, the ARTM.
Regardless of who is responsible, we need one card for all the transport companies, instead of creating additional plastic/electronic waste just because you’re in another city in the country.
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