'Gaps' in TTC and Metrolinx agreement preventing full PRESTO card rollout

Jun 7 2019, 9:59 pm

The TTC’s plans to completely transition to the PRESTO fare card system have been further pushed back as the transit authority says there are still items that need to be fulfilled in its agreement with Metrolinx.

In a report released Wednesday, the TTC says that even seven years after the transit agency signed an agreement with the Ontario government to adopt Presto, there remain “gaps” in the system.

Because of that, the TTC will continue to accept tickets and tokens for the foreseeable future.

“There are still a number of items yet to be fulfilled from our agreement with Metrolinx and we want to ensure our customers have a smooth transition away from tickets and tokens over to PRESTO in the final stages of this phase of a complex rollout,” said the TTC’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Operations, Kirsten Watson, in the report.

The report says there are several “impact dependencies which must be resolved” before PRESTO can be rolled out in full.

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The TTC alleges Metrolinx, the company that owns PRESTO, has not “committed to delivering the remaining and unfulfilled contractual obligations that were fundamental to the TTC entering the agreement.”

One of the unfulfilled obligations includes the ability for customers to top-up their accounts using debit or credit cards.

The transit agency says moving forward it will continue to sell and accept tickets and tokens and is aiming to stop selling them by November 2019.

Fully eliminating the older forms of payment is the final major step in transitioning to PRESTO.

“As outstanding milestones are accomplished we will monitor and report back to the Board with any changes to the stop selling date and a target to stop accepting,” reads the report.

Ainsley SmithAinsley Smith

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