Frustrated at the sign-up for city swimming lessons? A fix for ‘clunky’ website years away, say staff

It could take until 2026 before the current antiquated online interface is replaced, according to budget documents.

Thestar.com
Jan. 24, 2023
Ben Spurr

The City of Toronto’s online booking system for recreation programs is outdated, hard to use and a perennial source of frustration for any parent forced to navigate it during “Hunger Games”-style scrambles to sign kids up for swimming lessons.

The parks department has been using the same online platform since 1999, and acknowledges it’s “at the end of its natural life.”

But according to documents submitted for the 2023 budget process, a new booking portal won’t be fully up and running until the end of 2026 -- more than a decade after the city began work to replace the antiquated system.

While the city hopes to begin phasing in a version of the new portal sooner than that, some council members are describing the delays, which the city blames largely on the termination of a previous contract for a new site, as unacceptable.

Coun. Paul Ainslie (Ward 24, Scarborough-Guildwood) said he’s “flabbergasted” it’s taking so long to modernize the system, which is a vital portal thousands of families rely on to access swim classes, day camps, skating lessons and other city programs.

The “best before date” of the site “was probably 15 years ago,” Ainslie said.

“I think we should really be doing a better job.”

The parks department has been using the same online platform since 1999, and acknowledges it's "at the end of its natural life."

According to a 2018 city staff report, the recreation site is the municipality’s most popular public-facing digital interface. It facilitates more than 80,000 recreation programs, and before the pandemic processed 600,000 annual registrations.

In a statement, Jason Baker, director of business and technology transformation for the parks department, said the site “no longer meets the public’s or the City’s needs.”

The website, which operates using proprietary software called Class, has a “clunky” interface that’s not responsive on smartphones, and according to the 2018 report, is so limited in functionality that staff have had to manually manage wait-lists. Its ability to collect important data that would help the city tailor recreation programming to residents’ needs is also limited.

The city began looking for a replacement in 2015, one year after the company that supplied Class said it would soon stop supporting the software.

In 2018 council approved an $11.3-million deal with a U.K.-based company called Legend Recreation Software to build a new site. But the contract was cancelled after the onset of the pandemic, which Legend claimed was a “force majeure” event that made it impossible to finish the job, according to the city.

The city disputes Legend’s account, and says the company was failing to meet project milestones before COVID-19 hit. The city confirmed to the Star it has filed a claim against Legend over the almost $600,000 it paid the company before the termination of the contract.

A spokesperson for Legend declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal proceedings.

The city issued a new request for proposals, and it closed in June 2021. More than 18 months later, however, the city is still in talks with a potential new provider.

Coun. Lily Cheng (Ward 18, Willowdale) said that’s “worrisome.”

“That’s a very long negotiation,” she said. She’s concerned that the longer it takes to secure a new provider, the greater the risk that the new site will also soon become outdated.

The city attributed the length of the discussions to the fact the procurement model it’s using leaves the contract terms and deadlines open to negotiation, and typically takes longer to finalize.

Baker said the city is conducting “due diligence in an effort to position the City for a successful outcome.”

He said staff hope to bring a contract to council for approval this spring, and configuration of the new system can begin soon after.

The new site will be rolled out in stages, and while “residents can expect to begin using a version of the system in the initial phase,” Baker confirmed that the second phase, which will introduce additional functionality and improvements to the user experience, will take until the end of 2026.

“More information on timing of the two phases will be available once negotiations are complete and the contract is signed,” Baker said.

The city has already spent more than $17 million on upgrading and replacing the site. Baker said the money has gone toward developing the two procurements, server upgrades to cut down on wait times and other improvements.

The total approved budget for the replacement is listed as $29.8 million.