1.4 million TTC journeys unpaid due to to failed Presto machines
TTC has lost 1.4 million ride fares over the course of two years as the result of failing Presto devices. Since being installed on vehicles and in stations back in 2016, a TTC spokesperson revealed they the equivalent of 1.3% of all rides using Presto went unpaid for.Furthermore, numbers obtained by the Toronto star reveal that failed card machines led to 579, 970 trips in 2016, and an additional 864,705 trips in 2017.
Although the unpaid journeys represent a very small portion of the over one billion rides TTC customers took over the two years, the transit agency still argue that Metrolinx, the provincial agency that owns and operates Presto, are liable for the lost revenue.
“Metrolinx has a contractual obligation to compensate TTC for these revenue losses,” TTC spokesperson Stuart Green told the Toronto Star. “We continue to work with Metrolinx to resolve issues that have emerged, including on the revenue side.”
Since last July, TTC has billed Metrolinx $4.2 million for lost fares. It additionally requested a further $2.5 million for maintenance and Presto infrastructure tasks taken out by TTC workers. Despite being filtered into the transit system in December 2016, with more than 30% of all riders opting to use it as their chosen payment method, Presto deployment remains a work in progress. The lost fare calculations are said to include malfunctioning devices on buses, streetcars, and subway fare gates, as well as the newly installed Metrolinx-owned single-ride vending machines currently on some of the city’s newest streetcars. Although most devices have been corrected, TTC says the number of “lost taps” has increased, resulting in more free rides in 2017 than the previous year. This is particularly true for streetcars and buses, with roughly 714,000 taps lost from bus journeys. Lost taps on streetcars totalled 476,300, and subway journeys accounted for 146,800.
Despite TTC’s calculations, and sent invoices, Metrolinx has yet to foot the bill. Instead releasing a statement in which CEO Phil Verster stated: “Metrolinx was never given any facts or substantiation of these alleged free rides, thus we have (as always) focused on our Presto and TTC customers and their satisfaction.” He continued by saying Metrolinx will continue to consider any “commercial issues” with the TTC “on an ongoing basis and as normal business.”