Presto’s TTC installation to cost $385 million
TTC fare card system to grow to 50 per cent more than original estimate.

thestar.com
By BEN SPURR
June 28, 2017

Installing the Presto fare card system on the TTC is expected to cost the province 50 per cent more than originally estimated, with the budget ballooning to $385 million.

The new figure, which was provided by the provincial transportation minister’s office and is expected to be discussed at a Metrolinx board meeting on Wednesday, is $130 million greater than a 2012 estimate of $255 million.

The additional cost helps push the province’s total anticipated spending on Presto infrastructure across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Ottawa to $916.2 million over roughly a decade.

Asked in an interview why equipping the TTC with the fare card system has gone so far over budget, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the original estimate was produced before Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency for the GTHA, had signed a formal agreement with the TTC for the Presto program.

Over the course of hammering out the deal and implementing the program, Metrolinx discovered “some additional complexities” that led to increased costs, Del Duca said.

“We’re always cognizant that we’re investing taxpayers’ dollars wisely and effectively,” said Del Duca, the Liberal MPP for Vaughan.

“From my perspective, the most important thing is that we continue to deploy this successfully on the TTC, so that customers...have that reliability and that accessibility that they need to make their commute easier and more straightforward.”

New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo, the party’s urban transit critic, called the cost overrun “shocking” and described Metrolinx as a “rogue agency” that racks up bills at the public’s expense while being opaque about its finances.

“The concern is that they seem as if they answer to no one, except the Liberal cabinet,” said DiNovo, who represents Parkdale-High Park.

She argued that “the books need to be opened for that agency.”

“Ultimately, the buck stops at Steven Del Duca. And he needs to be held responsible for the errors of Metrolinx,” DiNovo said.

As one example of the project’s unforeseen complexities, Del Duca stated that Metrolinx needed to deploy Presto readers on more of the TTC’s old-model “legacy” streetcars than expected, as a result of Bombardier’s failure to deliver a fleet of new vehicles on time.

The TTC pushed back against that assertion Tuesday, with a spokesperson saying it’s the agency’s position that the majority of the costs Metrolinx has incurred were within the original scope of the project.

The TTC and Metrolinx entered into a master agreement for Presto in November 2012. The system allows transit users to pay for their trips by tapping prepaid fare cards on readers located on transit vehicles and in stations.

It will eventually replace older forms of payment on the TTC, and is currently available on 10 transit services within the GTHA, including the TTC, GO Transit, Mississauga’s MiWay, and the Union Pearson Express. It’s also used on Ottawa’s OC Transpo.

Presto’s deployment on the TTC has not been totally smooth: card readers and other devices suffered persistent technical problems last year. Metrolinx says the issues have mostly been rectified.

Michael Harris, transportation critic for the Progressive Conservatives, questioned how a system that cost so much could have so many significant problems.

“We don’t even have a perfect system and we paid 50 per cent more, $130 million more. For what?” asked Harris, MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga.

“Only a project ultimately overseen by (Premier) Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals...could see a project go over by 50 per cent.”

Despite the cost increases, Minister Del Duca described the Presto program as an operational success. He noted that more than 2.8 million people now use the fare card in all of its jurisdictions.

He also stated that the reliability of Presto devices on the TTC has improved dramatically. As of last month, 97 per cent of card readers on the transit system were operable at any given time, just below Metrolinx’s target of at least 99 per cent.

The TTC now has 5,000 Presto readers on buses and streetcars, and is installing automated Presto fare gates at all of its subway stations.

Of 69 stations, 45 are equipped with Presto gates, with the remaining 24 slated for completion this year.

The TTC has budgeted $44 million for its share of the Presto installation, which is separate from the Metrolinx costs. According to TTC spokesperson Heather Brown, so far the Toronto agency has spent $35 million of the total on project management, testing, engineering and design. It is spending an additional $50 million on the new fare gates to replace its subway turnstiles.

Installation of Presto hardware is expected to be completed in 2018, and some time next year the TTC will begin phasing out other forms of payment. The agency has not set a firm date for when it will stop accepting tickets, tokens and passes.

Numbers that will be presented at the Metrolinx board meeting are expected to show that as of March 31 of this year, the provincial agency had spent $327.1 million equipping the TTC with Presto, with a further $57.9 million budgeted for completing the project.

According to Del Duca, in addition to the $385 million Metrolinx will spend on the TTC Presto program, the provincial agency will be spending a further $59 million on software features and Presto infrastructure upgrades across the GTHA and Ottawa to ensure the system “functions even better for our commuters.”