TTC rolls out first Presto gate
Main Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway can boast some of the TTC’s most modern infrastructure now that the recently installed new fare gates are accepting Presto cards.
The Presto function was enabled Tuesday morning following a weekend software update, confirmed TTC spokesman Brad Ross. “It’s a soft launch,” he said.
“This being the first one we want to make sure we get it all right,” said Ross.
Once the TTC and Presto are confident everything’s working properly, the rollout on the rest of the system should be smooth and there will be an official announcement, he added.
The TTC expects the entire system will have the new fare gates by the middle of 2017, although Presto will be available across the system by the end of the year.
About 900 to 1,000 fare gates will replace the TTC’s old turnstiles at staffed entrances and the unstaffed high gates at automatic entrances.
There are six Presto-enabled gates at Main Station and two gates that accept a Metropass swipe.
The TTC has budgeted $43 million in the 2016 and 2017 capital budget to buy the new fare gates, remove the existing turnstiles and maintain them for the first two years of implementation.
The new gates are a “paddle system.” When you tap your Presto card, the paddles open and you can enter the station. A sensor allows riders to exit the station when they approach the gate from the other side. Eventually, exiting riders will need to tap their cards to open the gates, but that function hasn’t been initiated yet.
Stations will all get wider, fully accessible fare gates to allow scooters, strollers and other assistive devices to enter.
The rollout plan includes fare gate installation work beginning at Sherbourne, Bay and Wellesley stations by the end of March, with another 11 stations starting construction by mid-May, to be completed by the summer.
Presto access is already available at 26 TTC stations and on the streetcars. The installation of card readers on buses is still in its early stages.
The staged rollout of Presto has proved annoying to some TTC riders, but the amount of behind-the-scenes preparation makes a gradual introduction necessary, said Ross.
The TTC will stop selling tokens by the end of this year, and it will stop accepting them by the middle of next year.