[General] Not so Presto

Today I went from Mississauga to Guelph.  I chose to go by Go Transit from the Square One shopping centre, and I ran into a few issues.

• the ticket centre sells only Mi transit tickets, but there is a Go booth near the highway
• the ticket centre will direct you to the Go booth, even though the booth closes at 7PM and it is after that, stranding evening shoppers 
• Go uses Presto cards
• the Presto balance checker requires a lot of fiddling of the card to get it to read the balance
• the balance disappears after appearing for only a second
• you cannot add to your balance at a machine at Square One (as you can at Union and in Guelph)
• you can add to your balance online by visiting Presto's website
• the web interface for adding to your balance has many pages (fewer would be better)
• payment by (visa) credit card requires a Verified by Visa password.  I don't remember when I even set that up, as I can't recall the last time a website wanted that, but I successfully guessed it (phew)
• after adding $20, I was told that it could take up to 24 hours to process, and that I would receive an e-mail when that was complete; that prevents you from being able to add funds to your card in a timely fashion if you are short before a trip
• I received an e-mail 5 minutes later indicating that it was processed (phew), but then I read that my balance may take 24 hours to be updated (what, still?!)
• I checked my balance 10 minutes later and indeed it was still not up to date
• I asked a Go bus driver how I could buy a ticket, he suggested the only way was to pay the driver with cash.  It's nice that they accept cash (whereas Greyhound does not)
• I asked at the nearby Starbucks where the nearest ATM was.  They suggested Playdium (across the street) or Jack Astors (further away from my bus), so I went to the former.
• The Playdium's ATM machine was out of funds. 
• Jack Astors' ATM machine was busy, but eventually I had my turned and withdrew my money.
• I ultimately paid in cash for my fare when my bus arrived.

So, in summary, I spent 30 minutes to determine how to pay for my bus trip.  There was no reliable way to purchase a ticket without cash.  Presto's website is complicated and does not allow you to add funds (pay for your ride that day) in a timely manner.

Sigh.  I look forward to the future when the likes of Google Wallet will see us just tapping our phones when we board. :D