Although the TTC recently introduced debit and credit card payments, there are still good financial reasons to continue using your Presto card.

The choice to use the Presto or not is ultimately up to individual preference. What matters is saving money where you can and tracking spending in a way that makes sense to you.

One option is to create a Presto account for yourself if you haven't already. Users are able to add all their cards onto the app and track transit fares from there as well. 

There's also the digital Presto card option via Google Wallet, Android smartphones and smartwatches.

If you do decide to pay for your transit with debit, first check to make sure your bank doesn't charge per debit transaction. That's money you don't need to spend when you're taking transit frequently.

You can save money

First, it's all about the deals. Presto card holders can get discounts at all sorts of museums, sports games, tours, plays, escape rooms and more.

Still paying for transit via your Presto card can lead to unique savings of your own, too. Depending on where you're transiting to and from via GO train, you can make a specific route your default trip — meaning you only have to tap at the beginning of the trip.

Connor Mitchell, who commutes from the Cooksville GO stop in Mississauga to Union Station every day for work, has set the route as his default trip to save a little extra cash.

"When I tap on Mississauga, it actually saves me $0.30 to $1 each trip, because I'm not tapping off," he says.

"That adds up to $20 a month that I'm saving."

It can make budgeting easier

Another reason to keep your Presto or the Presto account is if your job compensates you for commuting. It's a lot easier to invoice or keep track of a few payments to fill up your Presto funds than dozens of smaller transactions for subway fare.

Longtime Presto users like Mallory Thompson are just used to the app and card at this point, having had the Presto app for years before the introduction of other payment methods. She told blogTO she simply finds it much easier to add $50 onto the card as a way to budget than to use her credit.

Zahra Khozema feels similarly. She has kept her original Presto card from all the way back in 2016. Beyond the nostalgia of the now dirtied and scratched card, it's simply easier to keep track of her finances and spending using it compared to debit or credit.

Zahra's original Presto card. Photo by Zahra Khozema.

"I like to put everything on an Excel sheet (at the end of the month)," she says. "So for me, it's much easier to just go to Presto and look up how much money I've spent."