TTC Moving Forward With New Card Swipe Fare System
Posted July 21, 2010 8:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You may soon be able to board a bus, streetcar and subway with a swipe of a card or cellphone instead of digging around in your pocket or change purse to pull out a token.
TTC Chair Adam Giambrone has issued a request for proposals for a new fare payment system that would allow transit riders to swipe or tap a credit or debit card and, possibly, a chip-enabled cellphone to ride the rocket and load up transit passes.
Similar systems are in place in some American cities, including New York City and Washington D.C.
The swipe system could be implemented at turnstiles by 2011, Giambrone told the Toronto Star.
The municipal Presto card, which mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi is pushing, or a similar system could also be offered to riders who don’t want to use credit or debit cards, Giambrone said.
Cash and token fares will also still be an option.
Giambrone told the Star the credit and debit card system is cheaper, but Rossi argues the Presto card would save the city more cash because the province would subsidize it. Rossi has said he’d kill the open card program in favour of the Presto system if he’s elected.
