Over the past week, I've noticed something interesting, especially at the Oshawa GO Station.
People walk from the parking lot and walk right past the Presto machines and onto the train. I've also witnessed this in the evenings at Union Station in the Bay Team Way.
If you're new to Presto, you have to tap on. The card doesn't work like a monthly pass. Just because you have a card doesn't mean you've paid your fare.
I'm also surprised that there's been no morning or evening fare checks which I suspect is GO Transit giving passengers a grace period as they acclimatize themselves with tapping on and off.
February should be interesting.
11 comments:
Even more so next month, as the fares go up! I suspect some will "forget" to tap - accidentally on purpose.
I've also noticed an increase in the announcements on the train, that if you don't have a default set, you need to tap off.
The learning curve is steep on this one...
Since January 2, I have had my card checked twice in the AM. Nothing in the PM.
Though I will admit, I am getting to the point of not tapping in the PM. Only because since riding the train 4 round trips, 2 of them have been delayed. For no real reason. Not long enough to qualify for the credit, but long enough that I miss my bus home and have to wait in the cold for 30 mins. until the next one.
Fare police were on the 5:53 LSE eastbound last night. They only got as far as the third car from the locomotive and got off (after the presto beeping woke me from my sleep). They never checked my fare. I can only guess that they were scheduled to get off at Pickering and caught so many people between the back of the train and my car that they didn't have time to finish the rest of the train.
I figured that there would be a grace period as well but on the first day I counted 5 officers on my car coming out of Bramalea. And then 3 on the way home. And then a couple the next morning.
However, everything checked out for all the people around me but I was wondering what would happen if someone was caught without tapping on the first day. I'd hope it would only be an informal warning as people get used to it the first week.
A co-worker who doesn't take GO very often any more, used her PRESTO card on Friday to go to Oakville and thought she had tapped and was checked on board the train. Turns out she only checked her balance, but didn't know that. Fine - $100. She's going to try to plead stupidity, because she truly thought she had tapped the thing.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
I have been on the LSE for the 7:15, 7:00 and 7:21 am trains originating from Oshawa and the 4:53 and 5:10 PM trains from Union to Oshawa and observed no fare checks.
This morning, I must have counted over 10 people who walked past the Presto machines at Oshawa without tapping. These are people who walked directly from the parking lot where there are no Presto machines.
It's been over six months since I've been checked, and I take the LSW every day during rush hour. Not a whole lot of incentive to tap.
In the York St teamway, they relocated the tapper and the balance checker machines (swapped places) but the balance checker still has a big sign above it that says "Pay fare here"...wonder how many people think they're paying the fare but are actually just checking their balance. It's been that way for months!
Can't people still by a single ride or return ticket? Maybe that's what they had instead of presto.
Passengers safety and the service are not even a concern, i'm always scared travelling on Indian railways because the bogies will break off anytime because that's how they manage it.
I forgot about the single ride folk. You're right. Those would be the ones who would not have to tap.
My bad...
Last week a guy tapped his card and it gave the bad "something is wrong" noise. But he just walked away. The man behind him pointed it out, maybe thinking he had headphones on and didn't hear it. The offender replied nastily "I KNOW" and kept on going straight up the platform. I had a feeling he's doing that regularly, all ready to present an argument of "I tapped, I don't know what's wrong"
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