Presto!

I'm all moved in to my new apartment, finally have internet at home, but no phone yet, despite having moved almost two weeks ago. Thanks Rogers!

I'm now a two minute walk away from St. Clair Avenue West, along a stretch where the right-of-way is not completed yet. I'm looking forward to it getting done! I'm also looking forward to them finishing the St. Clair West station underground, so that we don't have to trek all the way to Bathurst Street to catch the streetcar when we switch from train to streetcar.

But that's not what I wanted to talk about! I'm tempted to sign onto this, but I'm not sure whether I would qualify, being a Toronto resident who only goes to Mississauga on weekends. And I don't use Mississauga Transit much anymore - I just basically take the shuttle bus from the GO station to my destination nearby.

Anyhow, this looks pretty neat:

Mississauga Transit, GO and the TTC are looking for a few good commuters to "tap onto transit" and act as guinea pigs for a test of Presto, the new regionwide fare card the province says will revolutionize public transit.

To use it, the green card is simply tapped on an electronic reader, which deducts the lowest applicable fare for the ride. With the card, riders will no longer have to hunt for transfers or exact change, or handle multiple passes, tickets and tokens for various transit systems.

Instead, they'll load value on to their card at a transit kiosk or online. Registered users will also be able to get a lost or stolen card replaced.

Awesome. I'll grab an application at the Meadowvale GO Station when I pick up my son this weekend in Mississauga.