One year in: how is the Presto app faring?

A little over a year after the Presto app was launched, users are still reporting it leaves much to be desired. Dilshad Burman finds out the answers to your most frequently asked question about the app.

By Dilshad Burman

It has been a little over a year since Metrolinx officially launched the Presto mobile app and the transit agency says it has now been downloaded about a million times.

Users have been divided on its functionality, usefulness and convenience, with a less than two-star rating in Apple’s App Store and a 2.6 star rating in Google Play.

An informal poll by CityNews also reflects split opinions, with a majority saying the app is not good enough, while other several commenters say, apart from a few intermittent glitches, it’s fine.

One of the biggest and most frequent complaints was the delay between loading funds on the app and the balance being updated on the card.

Issues like the app’s slow speed or automatically logging out were seen as minor irritants while being double charged or over charged were cited as major annoyances.

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins says the app is updated on a regular basis to make it more efficient.

“Like any new app, there’s always things we can make better with it and that’s why we’re constantly updating it … to fix bugs and so forth,” she tells CityNews. “[The issues are] constantly being worked on to make it faster and faster. In this day and age, a lot of people with their smartphones, they expect things to be instant and we get that and we’re working on it.”

Loading the card

A major point of contention has been the four to 24 hour delay between adding money to an account via the app and the funds actually being reflected on the card’s balance. But it’s worth noting that your experience with that feature will vary depending on your phone’s operating system.

Android users whose phones are equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities can instantly load funds on their cards and this feature has been available from day one. All you have to do is choose the amount you’d like to load, pay via the app and then tap the card to the back of your phone to complete the process instantly.

Apple users aren’t so lucky since the operating system, until recently, restricted NFC capabilities.

“When we first launched the app, Apple did not have NFC function available,” says Aikins. “Some months ago they made it available for apps, so we’ll be able to have the instant function [for Apple phones].”

“We do know that, overall, that piece of the Presto network — the instant upload — is the biggest pain point we have that we are really working on,” she adds.

Aikins did not have a specific timeline for when instant upload will be available for Apple users, but said Metrolinx is currently busy working on it and the roll out is expected “relatively soon.”

As for the hours long delays customers currently have to endure on operating systems other than Android, Aikins says that Presto is a decade old now, and the app was based on that system.

“It’s not as similar as the app you use to get your coffee with,” she explains. “[Presto] was just set up on a different system a long time ago, before iPhones and Android phones really evolved into the smartphones they are today.”

Going card free

Another oft-repeated question is why customers need a card at all, instead of simply scanning their phones to pay for their fare as is possible at various other retailers.

The good news is that function is also in the works, with new tap stations already being tested at Union Station and other select stations along the GO system to replace the now 10-year-old machines. Currently, the tap stations only read Presto cards, but they are equipped with barcode readers and will eventually have the capability to scan them off your phone to allow you to pay digitally.

Aikins says the functionality will be phased in — at first customers will be able to pay via the new readers using credit and debit cards directly and later, the Presto card will also go digital.

Aside from convenience, another upside to the card eventually being fully digital is you won’t have to pay $6 to buy a Presto card.

The not-so-good news is that once again, there is no set timeline for the transition to digital payment.

“We absolutely know people want that,” says Aikins. “I don’t have a timeline because we have to roll this out and test new readers … we have a lot of steps to take before we get there, we have to change from a different system that’s much older and then we have to make sure we can replace all the readers.”

Reviews and criticism

With several negative reviews, an average 2.1 star rating and online criticism aplenty, the general consensus seems to be that the Presto app leaves much to be desired.

Aikins admits the reviews for the app have been mixed but says they’ll often only hear from customers when things go wrong.

“I believe we have a million downloads now for the app so a lot of people are enjoying it. And often when people really enjoy things, they don’t speak out about it, they just use it,” she says. “You want transit to be a forgettable experience, that’s the way I like it. I want to be able to get to and from work and not have to think about [it]” she adds. “We want that to be for the Presto card as well.”

“We know we can do better, we absolutely know we can do better. We have a really, really dedicated group of professionals who know this stuff and are working all the time on making it better and are really committed to making it better.”

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