As Metrolinx’ PRESTO Card system continues its slow and steady roll out across the GTA, it seems a significant portion of transit passengers are actually ready to use their phones to pay for their journeys. Or at least they think they are.
According to a poll carried out by Forum Research Inc., 50 percent of regular transit passengers said they were likely to pay with their smartphone and 32 percent of those people said they were either extremely likely or very likely to use their mobile device to pay for their trip. Those numbers sound pretty encouraging, but ‘likely’ to pay by smartphone and actually paying by smartphone are two very different things. Forum Research’s poll goes on to report that only 14 percent of those surveyed are currently using their smartphones to pay for anything.
Forum Research Inc’s poll is based on a random sampling of 1,006 people from from across the GTHA (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) aged 18 and over who take transit at least once per month. A total of 45 percent of respondents said they already use tap-and-go style payments but just 28 percent were PRESTO Card users.
[source]Forum Research[/source]
