When the TTC announced that fares might be going up, management limited token sales in an attempt to stem hoarders. By purchasing tokens now, 25-cents is saved each ride if the token is used in the new year. Because so many people were taking advantage of this, the taps were turned off. Laurence begs to differ on this logic, but the truth is that if you want to purchase fares in advance you have to purchase temporary adult tickets. When 2010 rolls around and fares go up, these tickets will only be accepted with a 25-cent top-up.

About the same time this was happening, the Presto smart fare card was being field tested ahead of a full roll-out over the next year. Presto could have made this fare increase more manageable, but mass media details on how it will work for the rider have been slim. Many of the questions being raised have already been answered, but the information isn’t really getting out to the public. So, here’s some reflections on what Presto can do for the riders in the GTHA. (more…)

Blinkenlights Stereoscope (2008), City Hall, Toronto

Binary data is often represented by two states: on and off. The Blikenlights Strereoscope installation at City Hall this year during Nuit Blanche, made data very public.  If you attended, you may have noticed the installations’ connection to open, malleable and user-contributed data.  As stated on the project website, “Project Blinkenlights invites the public to be a part of the installation by opening up a variety of ways to interact with and provide content.”  In terms of a practical application of open data, the issue returned to city hall through the issue of open transit data, discussed at the Web 2.0 Summit on November 26, 2008.

Wikipedia defines that open data is “a philosophy and practice requiring that certain data are freely available to everyone, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.”  The challenge to open up the city’s transit data (i.e., schedules, routes and timetables) to be used in Google Transit was posed by Mark Surman of the Mozilla Foundation during his talk at the summit.  Mayor Miller stated in response to Surman that the process to get Toronto online with Google Transit is underway and we can hope to see results next year.  Surman summarizes this exchange via a blog entry accompanying an archive of his talk.

Many questions about opening up transit data are still outstanding in relation to the draft RTP or final RTP in relation to trip planning and fare cards:

Trip planning:

• If Toronto opens up data their data for Google Transit, will the other regions and transit agencies in the GTHA be encouraged to do the same? (Note: Hamilton’s HSR system is already online at Google Transit)
• Do Metrolinx’s plans for an integrated trip planner take into account Google Transit, mashups or citizen initiatives?
• What information is needed by citizen and community-based groups like myttc.ca to continue to innovate and build from the community level up?

Fare cards: intense data collection is also a real possibility with fare cards when they are implemented across our region.

• What data will be collected through fare cards?
• Where will this data be stored, who will access it and for what purposes?
• Will any of the aggregated data from fare cards be opened up?

Tickets eliminated signage

As the posters have probably already informed you, the TTC is eliminating tickets on September 29th, 2008.  For the ordinary transit rider, using up your tickets in advance of the deadline may be advised.  The elimination of the ticket will probably be felt most by the counterfeiters however.  Over the years, fraudulent tickets and counterfeit tokens have severely impacted the system.  The bi-colour “toonie” style tokens were introduced in 2007 to try to halt counterfeiting and the elimination of the ticket is similarly motivated.

In discussing counterfeit tokens and tickets in Toronto, it is worth considering that a secure fare system is extremely difficult to design and maintain.  This past summer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation defended MIT students who completed academic research where they uncovered security vulnerabilities of the Charlie Card fare system in the Boston area. The students were sued when they planned to present on the presence of vulnerabilities at a hacker’s conference.  Their presentation did not contain information which would allow someone to launch an attack and the gag order lawsuit was thrown out on August 19, 2008.  The involved parties can now work towards addressing the security vulnerabilities in the system.

Here in Toronto, we will be addressing one set of our own vulnerabilities as we say farewell to tickets.

“Maybe now I can put real meat in the meatloaf…”

Those commercials are lame at best, but the underlying message is true. A post-secondary education in Ontario is very expensive, and many struggle to pay for tuition and textbooks in addition to the cost of living in the city. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that there have been loud calls to make public transit more affordable for students attending post-secondary education across the GTHA, throughout Ontario and across Canada.

In general, only grade-school and secondary school students are entitled to use student tickets and passes. In response, several universities and colleges have negotiated discounted transit passes with the TTC and with GO Transit. At eligible schools, students can receive a discount on GO monthly and ten-ride passes, and many institutions in Toronto sell discounted Metropasses though the TTC’s Volume Incentive Program (VIP). But, while all offer a tangible benefit to users, there are some drawbacks to both programs. (more…)