Grand River Transit

[KevinT]

So I should probably wait a week before heading down to get my Connect to GO flag set?

Also, it makes no sense that that flag has to be specifically set on a card, or that they didn't just make the system so that you can tap both cards together at transfer points.  I do development work with card readers that support Mifare and related card systems and they'll easily power up and individually address two cards in the field at the same time.  Even without knowing the Presto keys, they should at least be able to detect that a card has Presto on it by reading each card's Mifare Application Directly.  It's just software...

I went to the Charles Street Terminal on Monday after work to get my Connect to GO flag set, and after waiting in line for 20 minutes I get told "Oh, we're not set up to do that yet."  Seriously?  I see on their FAQ page now that it says "The Connect-to-GO flag is not available yet on the EasyGO fare card. GO train riders should continue to show the operator their Presto card or valid GO Transit ticket and deposit 50¢ in the farebox." but I'm pretty sure that if that was there when I first read about this flag that I wouldn't have bothered to head to the terminal.

As to the Mifare Application Directory on the cards, yes, Presto was readily recognized by the NXP TagInfo app on Android:



That means there's no reason that you couldn't just tap your Presto card at a transfer point followed by your EasyGO card within some reasonable timeout (10 seconds?) to get the Connect to GO discount.  No special 'flag' on the EasyGO cards required!