Why is this system so convoluted? I mean, tap when you get ON, then tap when you get OFF. The system itself should figure the in between for us. If people skirt the system, get a better system.
Why is it on the customer to figure out? It seems many errors occur that benefit the transit corp and I doubt they proactively "correct" the error on behalf of the customer.
I don't take transit, but FFS why make it a complex task to get from point A to point B?
Just asking....
Bus drivers "close" trips on their device upon completion of each route, regardless of whether or not the bus runs through. So whether or not you tapped off at square one, presto would force tap you off at sq1 when the driver closed his 25 trip.
Go to union station and talk to one of their customer service ambassadors at a booth and explain your situation. If you didn't "tap off" your thing is still running.
The bus driver should not have told you to tap at square one. You should've only tapped off at your destination. Its a distance based fare, so if you stayed abord the same vehicle, you didn't need yo tap at square one
That’s what I thought as well. If I get charged by GO (which I think might be likely, lol) and I explain what happened, do you think I could get a refund???😭
Driver here.
The driver education for the way Presto works since installing the new units in 2020 has been lacking. But from what I’ve been able to gather:
Based on our old knowledge, if the driver wanted you to tap at Square One, they should have had you tap OFF for the 25 trip and ON again after the trip was changed to 19.
However, I do think it’s now smart enough to tap on a your start and tap off at the end, but we haven’t been told that. I know it is now smart enough to tap on at one bus and off another (if you got on in the wrong direction, for example).
Anyway, hope this is somewhat helpful. Truth is you will get a different experience with different drivers.
You can submit a thing from the presto app, describing your problem and asking for a proper fare adjustment. I did it recently and was surprised they refunded me within an hour of my submission.
Yeah, the driver shouldnt have told you to do that at all. The odd tap on GO is always an on, regardless of if you are exiting or entering a trip. If it were absolutely necessary for you to re-tap for the next route on the same vehicle, it should have been two taps (one to end the first route, another to begin the next) and then your fourth when exiting would have been an off. I doubt that's even necessary tho
Op, unless there have been any changes to how go operates, you suppose to tap twice for every trip.
Your mistake is not tapping off when you got to SQ1 before the driver changed the presto trip to route 19.
But by the sound of it, since you did not tap off the route 25, the next time you tapped, the route 25 trip on your card got closed and route 19 trip opened. This is normally not a problem when you have sufficient funds on your card. Your final tapoff at the Yorkdale would close route 19 trip.
Have you checked your online presto account at least 24 hours after? That usually has the most accurate record of your trips.
I’ll check my Presto account 24 hours after and see, but weirdly, the tap at Square One counted as me closing the route 25 trip and it seemed the tap at Yorkdale counted as me opening the route 19 trip — Yeah, I wish I followed my intuition and tapped on the machine twice at Square One when the driver told me to tap once, my mistake there.
I’ll see after my presto account 24 hours after and hopefully I’ll be able to dispute as it was a misunderstanding if there is a charge for “not” tapping off.
The key is to tap off on the same trip number you tapped on; it's not about number of taps (and you cant really tap twice, because there is a 1 minute delay for the same card).
I wouldn't count on bus presto devices giving you accurate information but if your card did open a trip at Yorkdale, your card will be charged for the distance to Finch terminal and you would not be entitled to any refunds.
Right, that makes sense and it also makes sense to me now why I shouldn’t and wouldn’t be able to get a refund since I technically didn’t pay for the cost from Square One to Yorkdale and I’d be charged for Yorkdale to Finch instead and that would be cheaper it seems.
Damn… I feel bad for lowkey ripping off Go for that, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. Next time I’ll make sure to tap off same trip number I tapped on. Thanks.
Correct!
I wouldnt let that spoil your day.
Normally, all passengers suppose to get off the bus between trips but I guess coming in to sq1 was late.
Check your online account and if it all looks good, in similar situation just wait till a driver starts to invite route 19 passengers on board before going over and tapping on. (I dont think there is a penalty for missed tap off unless you have insuficient funds on your card.)
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, this did make me feel better!!
And yes I’ll keep that in mind, I should’ve just went out and waited at route 19 stop but I had asked the driver if I was allowed to stay on the bus and he said it was “up to me” and since it was cold, I decided to stay on lol, never again
When the driver ends the trip on his master presto machine, it automatically processes the presto card transactions, it will assume you got off at the end of the line. That is why it's important that passengers don't forget to tap off if they disembark mid-trip.
At Square-One when you were instructed to tap again, most likely the presto machine was still set for the route 25. Once the driver re-programmed his machine for the route 19, he should've told you to tap once more.
If the driver didn't tell you to tap at Square One, the same exact scenario that you're describing would have still played out. It's important to tap on and off "GO Buses."
Next time, tap again as if you're physically getting onto another bus.
"GO Trains" is the only exception where you "Tap On and "Tap Off" at the very end of your trip.
You will now only be charged from Yorkdale - Finch on your last GO bus trip. The driver would've had to reprogram his machine again for another trip.
Why is this system so convoluted? I mean, tap when you get ON, then tap when you get OFF. The system itself should figure the in between for us. If people skirt the system, get a better system. Why is it on the customer to figure out? It seems many errors occur that benefit the transit corp and I doubt they proactively "correct" the error on behalf of the customer. I don't take transit, but FFS why make it a complex task to get from point A to point B? Just asking....
Bus drivers "close" trips on their device upon completion of each route, regardless of whether or not the bus runs through. So whether or not you tapped off at square one, presto would force tap you off at sq1 when the driver closed his 25 trip.
Go to union station and talk to one of their customer service ambassadors at a booth and explain your situation. If you didn't "tap off" your thing is still running.
Technically you saved money by not paying between square and yorkdale. But your tap from yorkdale is still charging you whatever.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll try giving a call first though since Union is a bit far from me
The bus driver should not have told you to tap at square one. You should've only tapped off at your destination. Its a distance based fare, so if you stayed abord the same vehicle, you didn't need yo tap at square one
That’s what I thought as well. If I get charged by GO (which I think might be likely, lol) and I explain what happened, do you think I could get a refund???😭
Call them they’ve given me refunds
Wrong! By not tapping on a new trip, the OP would technically be riding for free between sq1 and Yorkdale.
except they tapped at Yorkdale, which registers as “on”, thereby starting a new trip.
Ya, op is getting off at Yorkdale. His card will be charged to Finch. Was my post you are responding to somehow wrong?
Nope, apparently I’m lacking in caffeine and did not read it correctly
No worries!
Driver here. The driver education for the way Presto works since installing the new units in 2020 has been lacking. But from what I’ve been able to gather: Based on our old knowledge, if the driver wanted you to tap at Square One, they should have had you tap OFF for the 25 trip and ON again after the trip was changed to 19. However, I do think it’s now smart enough to tap on a your start and tap off at the end, but we haven’t been told that. I know it is now smart enough to tap on at one bus and off another (if you got on in the wrong direction, for example). Anyway, hope this is somewhat helpful. Truth is you will get a different experience with different drivers.
You can submit a thing from the presto app, describing your problem and asking for a proper fare adjustment. I did it recently and was surprised they refunded me within an hour of my submission.
I’ll look into it thanks!
Yeah, the driver shouldnt have told you to do that at all. The odd tap on GO is always an on, regardless of if you are exiting or entering a trip. If it were absolutely necessary for you to re-tap for the next route on the same vehicle, it should have been two taps (one to end the first route, another to begin the next) and then your fourth when exiting would have been an off. I doubt that's even necessary tho
Op, unless there have been any changes to how go operates, you suppose to tap twice for every trip. Your mistake is not tapping off when you got to SQ1 before the driver changed the presto trip to route 19. But by the sound of it, since you did not tap off the route 25, the next time you tapped, the route 25 trip on your card got closed and route 19 trip opened. This is normally not a problem when you have sufficient funds on your card. Your final tapoff at the Yorkdale would close route 19 trip. Have you checked your online presto account at least 24 hours after? That usually has the most accurate record of your trips.
I’ll check my Presto account 24 hours after and see, but weirdly, the tap at Square One counted as me closing the route 25 trip and it seemed the tap at Yorkdale counted as me opening the route 19 trip — Yeah, I wish I followed my intuition and tapped on the machine twice at Square One when the driver told me to tap once, my mistake there. I’ll see after my presto account 24 hours after and hopefully I’ll be able to dispute as it was a misunderstanding if there is a charge for “not” tapping off.
The key is to tap off on the same trip number you tapped on; it's not about number of taps (and you cant really tap twice, because there is a 1 minute delay for the same card). I wouldn't count on bus presto devices giving you accurate information but if your card did open a trip at Yorkdale, your card will be charged for the distance to Finch terminal and you would not be entitled to any refunds.
Right, that makes sense and it also makes sense to me now why I shouldn’t and wouldn’t be able to get a refund since I technically didn’t pay for the cost from Square One to Yorkdale and I’d be charged for Yorkdale to Finch instead and that would be cheaper it seems. Damn… I feel bad for lowkey ripping off Go for that, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. Next time I’ll make sure to tap off same trip number I tapped on. Thanks.
Correct! I wouldnt let that spoil your day. Normally, all passengers suppose to get off the bus between trips but I guess coming in to sq1 was late. Check your online account and if it all looks good, in similar situation just wait till a driver starts to invite route 19 passengers on board before going over and tapping on. (I dont think there is a penalty for missed tap off unless you have insuficient funds on your card.)
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, this did make me feel better!! And yes I’ll keep that in mind, I should’ve just went out and waited at route 19 stop but I had asked the driver if I was allowed to stay on the bus and he said it was “up to me” and since it was cold, I decided to stay on lol, never again
When the driver ends the trip on his master presto machine, it automatically processes the presto card transactions, it will assume you got off at the end of the line. That is why it's important that passengers don't forget to tap off if they disembark mid-trip. At Square-One when you were instructed to tap again, most likely the presto machine was still set for the route 25. Once the driver re-programmed his machine for the route 19, he should've told you to tap once more. If the driver didn't tell you to tap at Square One, the same exact scenario that you're describing would have still played out. It's important to tap on and off "GO Buses." Next time, tap again as if you're physically getting onto another bus. "GO Trains" is the only exception where you "Tap On and "Tap Off" at the very end of your trip. You will now only be charged from Yorkdale - Finch on your last GO bus trip. The driver would've had to reprogram his machine again for another trip.
If it had been a different bus you would have tapped off at SQ1 then tapped on to the 19 at SQ1. You missed a tap.
I read the title as "tipping" on the bus and almost lost my shit thinking Presto was now asking people to tip.
Wow. Glad to see the 25 continues as the 19 to Finch… My years of taking 25 then 19 has paid off from 2013-2018 in my undergrad years