Presto cards can now be used on 100 older TTC streetcars and the fare care readers will be enabled on all streetcars by the end of the month, Metrolinx said Thursday.
Officials with the TTC and Metrolinx and representatives from all three levels of government made the announcement this morning at Bathurst Station.
“If the rollout goes anything like Oyster did (in London), very rapidly people become accustomed to tapping and realize how convenient it is,” TTC CEO Andy Byford said.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins told CP24.com the readers started coming online this past weekend and are gradually being enabled on more streetcars so that engineers can troubleshoot any problems as they arise.
Speaking to reporters, Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said 10 to 15 more streetcars will come online each day until the end of the year until all 230 of the TTC’s older “legacy” streetcars are enabled with the readers.
The readers have been popping up on older streetcars for the past couple of months, but have been papered over with stickers saying Presto will be active soon on the devices.
Presto is already available as an option on the city’s new streetcars and has been made available at 26 subway stations so far. The system is expected to be installed at all remaining subway stations by the end of 2016 as the TTC installs new presto-enabled fare gates.
Presto is expected to start appearing on buses sometime in the spring.
The system will eventually replace tokens and tickets across all TTC vehicles sometime in 2017.
