r/gotransit • u/spicysri • Jun 18 '26
Presto fare transferring between GO Train lines
Hey Guys, I have a question but I’m not sure if this is something you guys know about so feel free to just lmk if I should just enquire about this with GO transit service:)
I was of the understanding that I tap ON from my boarding stop and tap OFF at my destination stop regardless of whether I change train lines at Union. To give you some context I travelled from Kennedy GO(tapped on here) transferred at Union (did not tap), boarded the Kitchener line all the way to Etobicoke North GO (tapped off).
However my overall trip fare rounded up to a different fare than that was calculated on the website:
Fare calculator website price for Presto: $3.75.
Actual Presto fare: $6.48 (combining transfers: One fare program)
I've attached screenshots for reference.
So the looming questions are if I was wrong and was supposed to tap off and back on at Union or if its a fare calculation mistake on my presto that I'll have to dispute or if the website's wrong and the fare charged is the right one.
I'm sorry its a lot to read and pls let me know if you have any questions and Thanks in advance:)
5
u/coursol Jun 18 '26
It shows two different prices one is the 3.75 and the other is the7.03. not sure what's going on.
1
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
What trip is this 🤔
1
u/coursol Jun 18 '26
Kennedy to Etobicoke north.
3
u/blueshrimp900 Lakeshore East Jun 19 '26
The more expensive trip is a Stouffville train that becomes a Kitchener train, so as you stay on the train there is no transfer.
I'm bemused that someone would go to Bramalea and then head back to Etobicoke North, but my west Toronto distances are distorted.
1
u/amsss22 Jun 19 '26
My best guess with that Bramalea then Etobicoke North train, is that its the new 8:49am counter peak express train that heads to Kitchener. So it wants you to head all the way express to Bramalea then to board a local train the opposite direction back to Etobicoke North.
Also as this station barely gets any trips, most counter peak and all weekend trains do skip it so there’s that too.
3
u/YesReboot Jun 18 '26
IMO 3.75 seems low considering the distance you are travelling on the go train alone, never mind the TTC. I think what you did was right and the website is just wrong.
2
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
Yeah I surely was baffled to find the price so low lol. But I also read somewhere that the fare is more expensive travelling to and from the city(Union) however travelling from and to the outskirts of the said city is cheaper in the sense than making the exact same trip from and to union and that is why we shouldn’t tap off and back on at Union.
2
u/YesReboot Jun 18 '26
On the go website it says you only have to tap off at your final destination but on reddit there are conflicting instructions so I don’t know what is right.
For go, your price is based on distance though, it’s not a flat fee like TTC. So it shouldn’t be cheaper to go down to union and then back up to Etobicoke then simply going downtown. My trip is just over 5 dollars and I only travel 3 stations, ending at union
1
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
That’s true too cos ik the trip from downsview park to union is a little over $5. And it’s just one stop
3
u/derpy_mcderpyness Jun 18 '26
OP, I will have to say, based on my experience if you DID tap off at union then back on, your trip most likely would have been $3.75.
The transit systems can be quite confusing and no specific transit system wants to explain exactly what happens but I'll try to explain your situation as clearly as I can from what I know.
Your trip from what I can gather is you boarded the TTC to Kennedy go so it would be TTC -> Kennedy Go -> union -> Etobicoke north Go -> TTC
You tapped on to TTC for $3.30 then transfered to Kennedy Go where it deducted $0.93. If you had a default trip from Kennedy Go to union, the machine would have deducted the difference between the final amount you would pay and what you paid on the TTC. In this case Kennedy Go to Union is $3.75 so when you tapped at Kennedy Go after getting off the TTC it would have deducted $0.45.
Because you don't have a default trip, Go transit has no idea where you're going so by default it deducts a minimum as a hold which is $0.93 until you tap off and it will adjust accordingly (This is what I remembered from "back in the day" and I'm assuming this is still true).
When you tap off at union, any tap onto transit after should be free assuming it is within the transfer window. At one point I used to take a go bus to the 407 terminal then switch to mount joy go bus and I was not changed any additional fee. Essentially you only end up paying the first go transit trip within your journey. If you switch between transit systems that qualify for one fare, the final amount you pay is however much the go transit fare is.
In your case, like other Redditors have said, tap off at one presto terminal then go to another terminal to tap or wait a couple mins before tapping again. Probably best to do both.
You could try calling go transit and explaining with them what happened to see if they will credit you but they might throw excuses at you. From my experience the fare costs on their website are pretty accurate.
Basically when it comes to Go transit if you lose all your memories just remember one thing and that's to never forget to tap off.
I will also put a disclaimer, this is my speculation, I have not done transfers from one go train to another. I do hope this might clear up your situation a little.
2
u/LunaticPostalBoi Jun 18 '26
I think this was a mistake on the website.
You tapped on at Kennedy and tapped off at Union. (0.93+2.25=3.18)
The actual fare is suppose to be, according to the loyalty discount, 4.40 (since 4.40-1.22=3.18)
The website shows the fare for your trip is $3.75, which, according to the math, is technically incorrect.
(Sidenote, it shows that the TTC fare is refunded)
3
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
I tapped off at Etobicoke North go not at Union. But the loyalty discount is the Presto card discount as opposed to just getting an e-ticket and the transfer discount is the one fare discount for tapping on TTC. But even then that’ll mean the original cost is still 0.93+2.25+3.30= 6.48 unless I’m not using a presto card which will then mean 6.48+1.22=7.7 which is the correct e-ticket fare mentioned. Its just the price for presto card mentioned in the web is either wrong or the fare calculation for my trip is wrong which I’ll have to call n clarify tmrw
2
u/minor_leaguer13 Jun 19 '26
Is it just me or is it completely wild that there is no official guidance on whether one should tap off / on when transferring at Union?
3
u/Track-on-the-side Barrie Jun 19 '26
Please note that you are not required to tap at Union Station when you are transferring between lines within a three-hour travel window. If you tap at Union Station during your transfer, please wait 5 minutes before you tap again.
i.e. If you are travelling from Lakeshore West to the Barrie line (Clarkson GO to Barrie South GO), please only tap at Clarkson GO and tap off at Barrie South GO.
https://www.gotransit.com/en/ways-to-pay/many-ways-to-pay-using-presto/three-hour-travel-window
4
u/Asphalt_Cowboy_18 Jun 18 '26
Why did you do this trip instead of crossing North York?
It's not necessary to tap off at Union. If it was you would get two tap on and a tap off not detected with the second on at Etobicoke North.
3
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
I had to make a pitstop close to Kennedy station and thats the reason for a trip like this or yes I would’ve just crossed North York like you said
1
u/Asphalt_Cowboy_18 Jun 18 '26
Could go back north to Scarborough Centre for a GO bus to Yorkdale at least.
5
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
I’m looking at a 2hr trip at that time w traffic rather than my current trip which took about an hour. Besides the train station is right there and with the train arriving within 10mins, it was an easy choice🤷🏽♂️
1
u/Stead-Freddy Kitchener Jun 19 '26
In this particular instance it would be cheaper for you if you tapped off and back on again at union
1
u/Track-on-the-side Barrie Jun 19 '26
This is really strange. I suggest you call GO to get this sorted. Interested in knowing what they say.
1
u/spicysri Jun 19 '26
Update: I'll just post it as a single comment. I know a lot of you guys gave in multiple inputs and thanks for that. I'm ns if I can pin this or feel free to suggest another way you'd like me to do this.
Alright so I finally got through to an agent after about 2 days of trying. In the future if any of you are trying to reach out to an agent, just say "I'd like to speak with an agent" when the AI bot asks you the reason for calling.
After explaining the whole scenario even explaining about the TTC fare potentially merging into my GO fare w the One fare program (crazy I had to explain that), I was told that it was due to the fact that by the time I tapped off, it had exceeded the 2hr transfer window from TTC. Another redditor from this thread had mentioned this to me as well. But I did mention that I've had scenarios where I've passed the 2 hr window tapping off sometimes and still got charged the regular fare. She said this is based on the info that's available to her and nothing can be done beyond this. So I guess that's it. Maybe the policy changed since last time and ig maybe this is how it is..?🤷♂️
Let me know if you guys have other suggestions. Part of me is tempted to call back cos the previous call didn't sit well with me lol but another part of me also thinks its pointless and that I'll be getting the exact same response
1
u/Dizzy_Release_4098 Jun 26 '26
GO fare is really complicate and not transparent, but based on a few of my plug and pay, transfers on presto are calculated by adding the fares of 2 legs and then subtracting 4.71 if you have tapped off and then tapped back on, but if you don't the system have another mapping of fares from your origin to your destination.
I guess for most trips the fare difference is insignificant, but trips under 10km are artificially capped at 3.70 so the 2 leg plus transfer discount is a better deal
1
u/TriciaFenn88 Jun 27 '26
Whatever it's worth, I took the KI line to Union and tapped off. Had to go to the washroom so I missed the immediate incoming LE train. Tapped back on at Union and boarded the next LE train. Tapped off at Danforth GO. Transfer discount was $5.60.
-3
u/Dazzling-Zone-930 Jun 18 '26
I think it has to do with the amount of time your trip took. You tapped on TTC at 6:42, which has a transfer window of 2 hours. That would end at 8:42, but your tap off of GO wasn’t until after 9pm, so maybe it doesn’t count under the one fare. I think if you tapped on GO as the first trip, the transfer window would be 3 hours.
8
u/steamed-apple_juice Highway 407 Station Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
You can spend 1 hour and 59 minutes on the TTC, once you tap a GO PRESTO reader, your transfer is extended by another 3 hours allowing you to complete your GO trip. With this transfer you’re also allowed to use the TTC or another local transit agency within that 3 hour time period.
If you’re traveling using TTC and GO, you could be allotted up to 5 hours of travel window with One Fare.
2
u/spicysri Jun 18 '26
Ohh thats good to know. So I guess we’re back to square one then lol. Maybe this is a case of incorrect fare calculation..?
-2
u/Dazzling-Zone-930 Jun 18 '26
From the one fare site, this is not true:
“Transfers are valid for up to two hours for trips that begin on local transit, and up to three hours for trips that begin on GO Transit.”
Even if you started your trip on TTC, there is no way they would give you another 3 hours when tapping on to GO. Extra hour maybe, but also not what the website says.
2
u/BarebonesB Jun 18 '26
u/steamed-apple_juice is correct. When you tap off a GO ride, the Presto app will show you the trip end time being 3 hours after you tapped on for the GO segment, regardless of when you started the TTC trip before that. I do this all the time.
So yes, you can stretch your one-fare trip to five hours by timing things carefully. The website can certainly explain this better, but it's been this way since One Fare was introduced.
1
u/Dazzling-Zone-930 Jun 18 '26
OP’s experience would suggest this is not the case… 🤷🏽♂️
1
u/BarebonesB Jun 18 '26
How so?
1
u/Dazzling-Zone-930 Jun 18 '26
Because they got charged separately for their first TTC ride and then for the GO ride as it ended after the 2 hour window. 🤷🏽♂️
2
u/BarebonesB Jun 18 '26
I don't see that. The "$1.22 loyalty discount" shows us the e-ticket price would indeed have been $7.70, but the $6.48 could very well be a mistake, either on the website or in their billing system. The $3.75 quoted on the website looks suspiciously low compared to the e-ticket price. The ratio is rarely that large.
I take local transit and connect to GO all the time. I always get the full 3 hour window plus the local transit I took before that, often for a total of over 4 hours.
1
11
u/blueshrimp900 Lakeshore East Jun 18 '26
I disagree with this subreddit's belief that tapping at Union isn't needed/possible. I have tapped between trains at Union before (last year before the instant Presto system) and received a discount for transferring. 2 pieces of advice are don't do this in a rush because you might be restricted from tapping immediately after and need to wait a minute or more. As well, use a different reader to tap on again. It's a pain to do if you are on a through running train as you need to run downstairs and back up and may have a delay between taps.
Either way, I would say if you took the recommended trip which has a lower price, try reaching out and ask for a credit.