TTC resumes installation of Presto fare gates

Repeated malfunctions had forced TTC to halt work on fare gate installation last month.

Thestar.com
April 19, 2018
Ben Spurr

The TTC has resumed the installation of Presto fare gates at subway stations, after repeated malfunctions forced the agency to halt work on the project last month.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green confirmed Thursday that installation had resumed on April 12 “after the contractor provided a plan to address the deficiencies.”

At a meeting of the transit agency’s board last week, acting chief executive officer Rick Leary said there had been three main problems with the gates, which are supposed to open with the tap of a customer’s Presto fare card.

Motors in the doors weren’t working properly and a separate communication problem between the card reader and the doors caused gates to not open when they should. There was also an issue with “ghost flapping,” which is when the gates open on their own for no apparent reason.

The German company that supplies the gates, Scheidt & Bachmann, is replacing more than 2,000 motors on more than 1,000 gates the TTC has agreed to purchase, including at least 800 that have already been installed. The company is also replacing some of the motherboards within the gates and updating the software for the devices.

Leary told the board TTC officials have been meeting with the company every week and the two parties have put together a team to target stations where problems have been identified.

The cost of additional parts and work required to address the gate malfunctions will be borne by Scheidt & Bachmann, not the TTC.

The TTC has installed gates at 125 entrances to 68 of its 75 stations. It expects to substantially complete the program by the summer, although some stations will take longer so that installation can coincide with other planned work.

The Presto system is owned by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, but its installation on Toronto’s transit network is a joint effort with the TTC.

Metrolinx was responsible for installing Presto readers on all buses and streetcars. That work was completed at the end of 2016.

The TTC owns and is responsible for the subway fare gates. Once all of the devices are installed, the agency will be able to discontinue older fare media such as tickets, tokens and passes in favour of the fare card.

The TTC has budgeted $50 million for the gates, while in June Metrolinx said it expects to spend at least $385 million to put Presto on the TTC. That’s substantially more than the $255 million the agency estimated in 2012.

The card readers on buses and streetcars initially experienced high rates of failure, though Metrolinx says those issues have been addressed. Riders continue to report problems with other fare devices, however, such as the fares and transfer machines on board the TTC’s new model streetcars.