Grand River Transit

[danbrotherston]

100% with Dan.

Presto is ridiculously confusing as it is. This has like 3X the line items making it even worse.

I tap on a bus - that’s one line. One thing. It should not be multiple things. And what the heck is a “SV”?!

When you pay with Stored Value (SV) it's not a single transaction. It's multi-part transaction composed of individual actions. Another action is added if there's a pending load transaction in the system. Because of the way the system works a load transaction occurs at the time of a card tap and the card is loaded at the farebox not at the time you purchased the fare product and not online.

I don't agree with Dan on this because over simplifying what happens with the card can confuse some users of the system. Good UX shouldn't remove access to information that some users would find helpful.

Presto, for example, has a transfer credit that is credited to the card when you transfer between GO buses and between some other transit agencies that use Presto. That credit is credited to the balance of the card on a card tap and is a separate action from the initial fare subtracted when you tap on the GO bus you may transfer to.

It does not matter that the system is implemented that way.  What matters is how the users model of the system. Forcing your users to understand implementation details (including things like knowing what 'SV' stand for) is a guarantee that your users will not understand your system, and will make mistakes when using it. Good UX absolutely should remove access to information which doesn't enhance the user experience.

Presto is another example of an unnecessary and overly complex system.  To this day, myself, a relative expert in how Presto works, still cannot figure out what every line in the presto record means, and generally I need a calculator to figure out how much I paid for one trip. That is a complete failure.

You really should go read the book "The design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman. It is eye opening.