Presto gets new round of testing

More than 13,000 Presto cards have been given out or ordered for a new phase of testing, and transit officials are to report next month on how the system handles them, councillors were told Friday.

OC Transpo expects heavier use of the tap-and-go fare-payment system starting Feb. 1. That’s when many monthly pass users will start to use their cards, while cards ordered online should begin to arrive in the mail “any day now,” stated transit services general manager John Manconi in a memo.

Transit commission chair Coun. Diane Deans has asked staff to provide an update at a commission meeting on Feb. 20, Manconi wrote, and they should have two weeks of “preliminary data and system monitoring” by then.

OC Transpo wants to see how the Presto system handles a heavier load after severe technical problems delayed the scheduled launch of the cards last July.

People who have cards are now loading them with money or waiting for February to begin using monthly passes put on them, Manconi wrote. “We anticipate system volume usage to increase commencing Feb. 1.”

The transit service has stopped offering the cards except for two “small test outreach opportunities” aimed at seniors and people on social assistance who have discounted passes, according to the memo. Officials had planned to hand out 10,000 cards this month for the new phase of testing, but decided to increase that after seeing heavy demand.

Manconi wrote that the current estimate of cards being provided will be “adjusted” once applications and online orders are processed. If all goes well with the additional cardholders, OC Transpo plans to issue another 190,000 cards in the spring.