Presto Chango? How this TTC commuter turned a pass into a working magic wand that taps onto transit

Here's how 22-year-old Jaryd Diamond turned his standard Presto card pass into a pseudo-magic wand that can tap him onto transit.

A Toronto commuter has weaved some magic into their Presto card nearly literally, as they transformed their physical pass into a pseudo-magic wand that can tap onto public transit.

Jaryd Diamond, 22, first drew inspiration to transform his Presto card into a magic wand after seeing some of the transit passes that were on the market in Taiwan. In Taiwan, their EasyCard—a multifunctional rechargeable smartcard—comes in a variety of anime-themed designs, and in different forms outside of a traditional card.

“That kind of got my brain turning,” Diamond told CTV News Toronto in an interview. “It’s not the most visually interesting thing and so I came up with this idea of, well it’s quite a bad joke, which is what magicians say.”

While magicians typically never share their secrets, Diamond shared how “simple” it was to turn the Presto pass into a working wand.

After soaking the Presto card in 100 per cent acetone nail polish remover for about an hour, the plastic dissolved and Diamond says he could carefully remove the RFID chip with the antenna with a pair of tweezers.

“I carefully wrapped it in such a way that it still functioned. (I) taped it up and then put it on the back of a cheap, magic wand,” Diamond said.

When the University of Waterloo student first went to test out his wand at St. Clair West TTC Station, he says he didn’t want anyone to see what he was doing—not because Diamond was doing something wrong, but because it might raise some questions.

“It wasn’t a very busy station, but most people kind of just passed it by because a lot of people are kind of stuck in their own world when they’re tapping on and getting on transit,” Diamond said.

When Diamond waved his wand over the Presto machine scanner and, to put it in the words magicians use, “Presto Chango”—the wand worked.

Diamond says he has used the wand a couple of times so far, one of which involved a run-in with a fare inspector onboard a TTC streetcar.

“The fare inspector was a little skeptical at first but once the wand worked, he told me, ‘That’s awesome. I’m happy to see that someone’s having fun with this stuff,’” Diamond recounted.

Metrolinx told CTV News Toronto that while it appreciates Diamond’s creativity, the agency “strongly advises customers not to modify their PRESTO cards in any way.”

“Changes such as punching holes or removing the chip can damage the embedded techology, compromise the security of the card, and render it unusable,” the statement reads.

For Diamond’s part, he still uses his digital version of his Presto card and continues to load the pseudo-magic wand with money so he can use it to pay for fares when he chooses to wave it to board.

Diamond says he would love to see other commuters worldwide transform their transit passes into something that plays off what their city calls them.

“When I originally had this idea, I was actually in Vancouver and their transit card is called the Compass card,” Diamond said, wishing he could turn that pass into a functioning compass capable of guiding him onto transit.

Ultimately, Diamond hopes his whimsical idea will spark some creativity for other transit takers.

“I feel like, especially when it comes to the TTC, a lot of the time you hear the TTC, a negative sentiment (is) mentioned in the same sentence whether that’s from construction, from track work or a long commute,” Diamond said.

“There are small things you can do that just make that experience, the things that you can actually control, more enjoyable.”