According to a 110-page report by Ontario’s Auditor General, the TTC is losing millions of dollars a year from issues relating to Presto.
According to the report, Presto vending devices on the TTC’S new streetcars are often out of service because no one is regularly emptying coins from the machine. The same report also suggested malfunctioning hardware, poor management, and lack of reliable data are causing TTC to lose millions of dollars in unpaid fares.
Andy Gatchwene, 46, who lives downtown and uses the TTC every day to go to work in Scarborough, says he sees a lot of out of service machines on his way to work .
“Out of the seven days of the week I would say I see around seven-eight out of service machines a week,” he says. “It’s crazy how they still haven’t fixed this problem.”
In 2016, TTC installed Presto on all buses and streetcars, allowing customers to pay their fare with just a tap on the board. Since then there have been many complaints from the public regarding malfunctions, issues, and delays regarding Presto.
On Sept. 3, Presto experienced a huge issue regarding reloading machines. TTC riders weren’t able to reload their cards due to technical issues with Presto reloading machine. On top of that, it was the first day of school for majority of students living in Ontario, so a lot of the public took out their frustrations on the TTC.
Dean, 35, who refused to give his last name, has been working for the TTC for three years, and said, “We understand how much this angers everyone, but we have professionals who are constantly and tirelessly working on solving any issue related to.”
We also reached out to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green for a comment, but did not hear back.