TTC, Metrolinx in Presto dispute

Toronto transit says provincial agency owes millions in revenue lost from faulty readers

The TTC and Metrolinx don’t see eye to eye on the costs of the Presto fare card system.

The TTC says Metrolinx owes it millions of dollars in lost fare revenue from faulty Presto machines.

But Metrolinx, the provincial organization that owns Presto, has not yet agreed to pay, and says it’s actually owed money by the TTC for work the Toronto agency requested during the system’s installation.

According to a TTC spokesperson, the agency estimates that since January 2016 it has lost $4.2 million as a result of problems with Presto readers, which are supposed to enable riders to pay their fare with a tap of a smart card.

Under the terms of the deal the two organizations signed in 2012, Metrolinx is obligated to compensate the TTC for money lost as a result of problems with the system.

Although the TTC has billed Metrolinx for the lost revenue, TTC staff said the provincial agency is still reviewing its numbers. The two organizations are in talks over the issue.

“We don’t have the specific reason why they haven’t paid us to date,” acting TTC chief executive officer Rick Leary told the agency’s board Thursday.

Councillor Josh Colle (Ward 15, Eglinton – Lawrence), who chairs the TTC, said in an interview it was “critical” that Metrolinx reimburse the agency.

“They’re our partners in this, but there’s also an obvious negotiation on everything we do, so I’m not surprised that that

“They’re our partners in this, but there’s also an obvious negotiation on everything we do.” JOSH COLLE TTC CHAIR

would be the case on this. But I’m confident and I fully expect that we will see that money,” he said.

Metrolinx counters that it has incurred unforeseen costs as a result of Presto work the TTC requested. That includes installing card readers on all the TTC’s older streetcars after Bombardier delayed the delivery of new, Prestoequipped vehicles.

“There is an ongoing negotiation regarding claims Metrolinx has against TTC and TTC has against Metrolinx,” said Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins in an email.

“During a large technological rollout such as this, with two organizations working together on such a major system upgrade, there will be some accounting matters that need sorting out. We’re doing that now and we are confident that working together we can resolve it.”

Earlier phases of Presto’s deployment on the TTC were marred by card readers suffering high outage rates. At one point in 2016, 12 per cent of the devices on buses were malfunctioning, and 5 per cent of buses had no working readers at all. Metrolinx statistics indicate the readers now have availability rates above 99 per cent.

While the reliability of readers has drastically improved, some other parts of the system are still experiencing hiccups.

TTC staff said Thursday devices on the new streetcars that are supposed to enable riders to pay their fare using tokens, cash and debit or credit cards are exhibiting “consistently low reliability.”

Automatic Presto gates installed at subway stations have also strained the capacity of the fare card software platform.

The TTC intends to complete the switch to Presto in 2018. A spokes- person for the agency said that it plans to stop selling older fare media like tickets, tokens, and passes “sometime in the middle of this year,” and will stop accepting them by the end of the year.

Key to making the transition is the deployment sometime this year of automatic Presto card vending machines at all subway stations. The machines will allow customers to buy and load Presto cards at entranc- es. Presto readers are now installed on all subways and buses, and outside at least one entrance of all 75 TTC stations.

Metrolinx revealed last year it would cost the agency $385 million to complete Presto installation on the TTC, $130 million more than it originally estimated.

The TTC is also spending $50 million of its own money to install the Presto fare gates in subway stations.