A Burlington woman who had to watch helplessly as a stranger racked up charges on her lost Presto card is raising concerns about the fare system that is quickly becoming the main way to pay for transit across the GTHA.

Heather Dixon’s frustrations began Monday, when she was taking the GO train home to Burlington. As the train approached her station she realized she couldn’t find her Presto card.

“I looked around quickly and I couldn’t see it, so then I just had to get off the train,” she said.

Dixon, 39, who works in publishing, asked a GO employee what to do about her card, which still had $93 loaded on it.

The employee advised her to visit the Presto website and report her card lost.

Dixon said she immediately went online and did so, but was surprised to read it could take up to 24 hours for Presto to actually block her lost card and that she would be liable for any charges made to the card in the meantime.

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Later that day she checked her account activity online and discovered a lucky but unscrupulous GO rider was using her card, taking a bus in Burlington, and then heading toward Port Credit. Whoever it was quickly spent about $20.

“It was frustrating to me to know that somebody had my card and was going to use it, and there was nothing I could do about it,” Dixon said. “I was pretty mad.”

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To make matters worse, Dixon had set up Presto’s auto-load function, which automatically adds money from a customer’s credit card or bank account to their Presto card once its balance dips below a pre-set level.

Dixon feared whoever had her card could rack up enough charges over 24 hours to have the auto-load kick in, costing her yet more money.

She wanted to cancel the auto-load feature, but in an online help chat Monday evening a Presto representative told her that was impossible as auto-load can only be cancelled before a card is reported lost. No one had told her that.

“I just think the advice I was given was not the best advice,” she said.

Frustrated, Dixon took to Twitter to vent, calling Presto a “horrible idea.” The tweets captured the attention of Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of Presto, and by Tuesday the organization promised to reimburse her for the money the stranger had spent on her card.

Dixon said she was happy with the eventual outcome, but says she no longer trusts the fare card, which she called “super inconvenient.”

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“Why does it take 24 hours, and what can be done to fix things?” she asked.

According to Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins, the lag for making changes to fare card accounts online, which includes other transactions such as loading funds, is not unique to Presto.

“Many well-used fare payment systems across the world have wait times associated with online transactions,” she said in an email. Transactions at Presto machines in subway stations and elsewhere can be instantaneous.

Aikins said the reason it can take up to a day for online changes is that all Presto account information is stored on the fare card itself. When a customer makes an online transaction such as adding funds to or cancelling their card, the change is logged into the central Presto system, then the updated information is distributed to fare devices across the transit system.

The updated account information is only transmitted to a customer’s physical card once they tap it on a Presto device.

However, some Presto devices connect to the central network less often than others.

Fare card readers on TTC vehicles are frequently connected to the central system through a mobile network, so a customer tapping on those machines can implement changes to their account quickly.

But Presto card readers on GO buses only connect to the central network when they enter one of the agency’s garages, which they only do about once a day.

However, the auto-load function can be disabled instantly on the Presto website. Aikins couldn’t immediately say why Dixon wasn’t advised to disable that feature before cancelling her card, but said the agency is updating the messaging on its website to clarify the issue.

Asked whether other Presto users who find themselves in Dixon’s situation will also be reimbursed for any lost funds, Aikins made no guarantees.

“While we do look at each situation independently, our policy is that we are not responsible for costs incurred within 24 hours of cancellation,” she said.

Presto is used by 11 transit agencies across Ontario. This month the TTC, by far the region’s biggest transit system, took a major step toward the full implementation of the technology by eliminating its Metropass. Customers must now buy monthly passes on Presto instead.

The TTC plans to stop selling older fare media like tickets and tokens in August, and stop accepting them at the end of 2019.

Have you had issues with your Presto card? Tell us your story on Facebook, Twitter, or by contacting Ben Spurr directly at bspurr@thestar.ca.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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