- is there a fine for riding go train without ticket
- does someone check your presto card on the go train
- who checks GO fare
- best place to sit on GO train to avoid being checked for Presto Card
- how many times a week can I ride free on GO train
- busiest times for Presto checking
- what happens when a go transit officer catches you
- Go train ticket fine how much
- do i really need a go train ticket
- what does a go train officer look like
- what station does the go train officer get off at
- Can two people use the same Presto card or pass it back
- Do GO officers take your picture if you don't tap your Presto card
- how to ride go train to union for free
- do I really need to tap Presto card every go train ride
- how to make your own Presto card with no money but it will beep if GO people check it
You must all be new to GO Transit and you must all be first year college and university students because in the three years I've been online with this blog, this is the most activity I've witnessed with respect to searches about defrauding the system. Considering the time period, it's the only conclusion I can make.
You see, when you use Google and your search query lands you at my website (aka this GO train blog), my metrics software captures your "hit" and I can review a report of the latest search terms.
And judging by recent Twitter activity currently being monitored by @GoTrainsit, it appears that many of you feel you are not obligated to pay your fare or feel that because Presto cards aren't checked every day, hour on the hour, you're wasting money when you tap.
How about Googling the word "integrity"?
So put on your big kid pants and pay your fare like the rest of us do. M'kay?
By the way, the very last search phrase was the best one yet. A+
So put on your big kid pants and pay your fare like the rest of us do. M'kay?
By the way, the very last search phrase was the best one yet. A+
I blame the parents!
ReplyDeleteJust spent the last four hours on this site and I really should get to bed. This site is the best. I can see now why it's popular and it came up during frosh week at Ryerson. As it just so happens there were a lot of people wondering why we need to tap the Presto card and why we can't just carry it like a GO pass which no one had to tap. I think this is where the confusion comes from. People think it's just a pass that you show. That you don't have to do anything with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a third year uni student and I pay my fare. I'm just playing devil's advocate here.....
Ps. you're very pretty and your daughter is a cutie.
I plan on telling everyone I ride the train with about this blog. It's fantastic. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks Nicole!
ReplyDeleteWelcome!
Sure, maybe people think it's a pass and has no value but I'm pretty sure all the literature and marketing around the card makes it pretty clear how it works.
There are people who really don't want to pay to ride the train and are conducting "research" how to avoid fares.
And speaking of bed, I agree ... night night!
I think the Presto card needs to work like how you can't pump gas until you put a card in the machine. So for example, there should be card readers on the outside of the train and the doors should be shut and you can only get on if you tap but logistically this wouldn't work well seeing as the lemmings crowd the doors and people can't get to the train on time causing a massive pileup of people trying to get on the train at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteOr, the platforms need to be closed off with electronic turnstiles that don't function unless the card is tapped. I think this would see 98% compliance at the fare box. At one time you couldn't get on a GO train without going through a turnstile.
I am disheartened to learn there is a generation of self-entitled riders who feel those of us who have been doing this commute for years should be subsidizing their lack of integrity.
Barb, the turnstiles were phased out because of the cost of having them and the drawbacks of keeping them staffed.
ReplyDeleteImagine the bottlenecks today if even a few of them became disabled and people are in a hurry to catch a train. They were taken away to streamline the system and while fare evasion exists,compliance is quite high these days.
If you remember the old turnstiles, each one was a ticket seller too so when a person stopped to buy a ticket, the lines stopped too until the sale was completed. Bad for everyone.
I want to start escalating fines. First offense 150, and each one after that goes up until the person is banned from the system. Just watch compliance go up when that happens. :)
Oh yes not everyone has a Presto card. Some people buy paper tickets and day/group passes too.
I ride the 5:53am train out of Whitby. I am 3 for 3 on fare inspections this week! Can we go four for four, ladies and gents! Tomorrow will tell!
ReplyDeleteI rarely get checked on the 16:10 train going home.
People who shirk the system really tick me off.
Well, I have seen more GoStappo and card checks in the last 2 weeks than in the last year. It is because they know all the fare unpayers are riding right now.
ReplyDeleteThe irony displayed in the tweets of the fare-jumping tweeters is amusing.
ReplyDeleteThey brag about riding for free and then in a few tweets later complain about overcrowding and lack of seats.
Well how da fuq do you expect service improvements to happen if you're not paying to use the service?
The majority of these self indulged, self entitled douchepicks look to be between 16 and 25 based on profile pics.
I enjoy pointing out to them they may wind up paying in the end through increased sales tax on goods and services as the province unloads the shortfall of GO's operating budget onto Ontario taxpayers, which includes them spending their dollars earned from their McJobs on clothes and shoes. Schooling them all in economics usually caused them to rethink how they "stick it to the man".
They'll just lie to get out of a fine and the honest people have to pay a fine for forgetting to tap once
DeleteNo one gets out of a fine. The majority most definitely overshadow the poor that get stranded if they don't have the fares. Especially if the only work they can find is outside their town. Bus hoping and train hoping is all they can do. And when they get caught they get taken to court for not being able to pay and then they continue to do the same thing because that's all they can do. These people are dipping in and out of the homeless and non homeless line. Trust me I know because I'm one of them. I pay when I can but as a women if I stay out late I get harassed and attempted kidnapping already happened. Toronto is bad for sex trafficking and everyone knows this. Anyway... Mostly middle class people avoid paying fares and stealing things they don't need moreso than the ones that can't afford it... This has been my experience
DeleteMany years ago, in a country far away, I took the bus downtown with two younger friends to go see a movie. We all had the exact same amount of money for the bus fare, movie ticket, and a snack.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I had just turned 10 and now had to pay the “adult” fare – a fact I didn’t think of until the bus pulled up. I lied and bought a “child” ticket so I would have more money for a snack. After four decades, I still feel bad about it. And the snack? So wasn't worth the lie!
So, what I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t even dream of not tapping my card as I couldn’t live with the guilt.
So none of you have *ever* forgotten to tap and got a free ride?!
ReplyDeleteWe've all done it. I bet none of you ran into the station after the train pulled in to let GO know so you could pay after the fact.
If you forget to tap, you're still a fare jumper.
Stick that up your self righteous butt!
Every free ride I manage to get away with leaves me with a feeling of winning. I sleep just fine at night.
When you don't tap, forget to tap, etc, you lose your loyalty steps so you're not winning by any means.
ReplyDeleteForgetting to tap is one thing.
ReplyDeletePurposely not tapping is stealing.
Let’s throw another log onto the fire. Should we continue to allow GO Transit employees (and their travelling companion) to ride for free?
ReplyDeleteThese are the students that'll whine and complain when they get hit with a fine for not tapping, and then leave it to their parents to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteAnnonymous @ 10:30AM needs to get the Presto card out of his @ss and start tapping it.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe his flawed logic will go away once the blood flow returns to his brain: someone forgetting to tap once or twice is NO justification for not tapping on a continuous basis. Contrary to what he has deluded himself into thinking, they are NOT the same thing.
I pray for any children he/she/it has.
George, I would strongly disagree.
ReplyDeleteLook at London for example, 10 Million people.
Turnstiles at all major stations & a few second delay at rush hour.
GO likes to treat you like cattle anyway, Union Station every rush hour and the Track no is only announce 15 mins before departure (BS, they know before that). 2000 plus charge in.
In 7 years of commuting I have only been checked once! That was when I drove to Oakville after rush hour.
Dave
these people piss me off, same with people who call Viva "Freeva" in york region... actually they make me laugh when they get caught, because whatever the fare was you complained being too high, well.... wait till you see how much the fine is....
ReplyDeleteI love hearing their bullshit excuses, some are quite funny. The GoStappo must have heard them all. what is the fine btw?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous/8:01 PM: Why on earth do you need to be on the platform more than 15 minutes before the train gets in????
ReplyDeleteAs much as I agree with integrity, it’s absurd how it costs me 20$ a day for transportation. That’s 600$ a month. It’s something that a lot of students will have trouble affording.
ReplyDeleteLol this was from 2013 I'm sure the price wasn't the same then
DeleteIt was $8-something for an adult one way --- Oshawa to union. It's $10.31 now which people still find as expensive as fares were ten years ago. People still Google how to fare jump on GO. Why would 2023 be any different from 2013?
Delete