Presto card

Presto card
PRESTO card. Note the Braille letter P.
LocationGreater Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa
LaunchedQ4 2009
Technology
OperatorAccenture
ManagerMetrolinx
CurrencyCAD ($0.05 minimum load, $1000 maximum load)
Stored-valuee-purse, period pass
Credit expiryNone
Auto rechargeAutoload
Validity
Retailed
  • Online
  • Participating transit agencies
Websiteprestocard.ca

The Presto card (stylized as PRESTO) is a contactless smart card automated fare collection system used on participating public transit systems in the province of Ontario, Canada, specifically in Greater Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. Presto card readers were implemented on a trial basis from 25 June 2007 to 30 September 2008. Full implementation began in November 2009 and it was rolled out across rapid transit stations, railway stations, bus stops and terminals, and transit vehicles on eleven different transit systems.

A variant of the Presto card is the Presto ticket, introduced on 5 April 2019, which is a single-use paper ticket with an embedded chip. The Presto ticket can only be used for the services of the Toronto Transit Commission.[2][3]

In late 2023 and mid-2024, Presto was made available for use in Google Wallet and Apple Wallet, respectively.[4][5][6]

One of the 10 strategies of The Big Move, the GTHA's regional transportation plan, was to create an integrated transit fare system amongst the 10 public transit agencies in the GTHA. The Presto system was designed to support the use of one common method of fare payment on various participating public transit systems, comparable with other systems such as London's Oyster card and Hong Kong's Octopus card.[7] Presto is an operating division of Metrolinx, the Ontario government agency that manages and integrates road transport and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

  1. ^ Yiu, Rachael (3 August 2017). "RFP-2017-VM-017: Supply of PRESTO MiFare Ultralight C based Limited Use Media & Related Services" (PDF). Metrolinx. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference TTC-Presto-FAQ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "TTC extends sales of Presto Tickets to 10 stations". Toronto Transit Commission. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Metrolinx – PRESTO". Archived from the original on 15 September 2016.