The city is kicking off the procurement process to find a replacement for the archaic online system used to process registrations for city-run recreation programs.

The system that is currently used is about 20-year-old and while the city has been able to reduce wait times by boosting its server capacity, the process remains a frustrating one for many parents.

At a news conference on Friday, Mayor Tory announced that the city has launched a negotiable request for proposals process, which he said will allow staff to work with vendors to ensure that the new system utilizes “the best available technology” and can be improved and updated over time.

The hope, Tory said, is to have the new system in place sometime in 2018.

Last March, Tory had promised that a new system would be in place by the end of 2017.

“While I had set out a year ago the objective of having this new system in place by the end of this year, I think it will be sometime into next year by this time this is all done, including the procurement and actually installing this system and making sure it works,” he said. “If I have learned one thing from my experience in business, it is that once you have picked something and put it in, then you have to allow a good period of time to test it. It will be a little while but at least we are underway doing it.”

Tory compared the current system used for recreation program sign-ups to a “1962 Chrysler” that probably shouldn’t be on the road.

Nonetheless, he said that he has been pleased with stop-gap improvements that have been made to what had become a “nightmare process” for parents.

He said that in December, about 82 per cent of those signing up for winter recreation programs said they were satisfied with the experience, which represented a 10 per cent improvement.

He added that there was an increase of 34 per cent in registrations completed in the first 15 minutes of the sign-up period in December, something he attributed to a 25 boost in server capacity.

“I don’t for the life of me know why this work wasn’t done years ago but the bottom line is that we have done it and the results are paying off for the public,” he said. “I think improvements we have already seen will continue with even faster online access.”

The registration window for spring and summer recreation programs in the Etobicoke York district begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday while parents in Scarborough will have their chance at 7 a.m. on Sunday and parents in North York will have to wait to 7 a.m. on Tuesday. The sign up window for parents in Toronto and East York district begins at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

The city says that there are about 23,000 programs available with 250,000 spots.