TTC wants to move forward with Presto fare system
Posted June 6, 2011 7:35 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The TTC is ready to start negotiations on implementing the Presto fare card with chair Karen Stinz declaring her support of the regional payment system Monday.
A TTC staff report recommends that talks begin with Metrolinx and the province on the financing and operating terms of the new payment system, a report in the Toronto Star Monday said. The TTC motion will go in front of city councillors on the transit commission Wednesday.
Former TTC chair Adam Giambrone called the Presto system out of date and too expensive and had issued a request for proposals for an open payment system that would allow riders to use credit and debit cards and cellphones to pay fares.
The staff report calls on the TTC to scrap the third-party plan. Stinz said Monday the Presto system would offer additional payment options.
“Our customers will be pleased to know that the Presto system will be designed to accommodate our customers’ payment preferences, whether open payments, Presto, pay-as-you-go, or other popular card types,” Stinz said in a release.
All other transit systems in the GTA, including GO, currently use, or plan to use Presto.
“Many organizations and individuals have asked for more convenient and modern payment options for the TTC. Presto can offer the flexibility the TTC needs and deliver the convenience TTC customers have long demanded,” Stinz said. “Bringing Presto and the TTC together would deliver an integral component to our regional transit objectives.”
Adopting the regional fare system was part of Rob Ford’s transit deal with the province after he decided to scrap the Transit City light-rail plan in favour of an underground Eglinton crosstown line and an extension of the Sheppard subway.
