The Presto fiasco: Another in a long line of Toronto transit disasters

Presto.

It is hard to overstate what an utter fiasco the TTC's new fare payment system has been and the worst is likely yet to come.

There is the staggering cost. Metrolinx will have spent $1.2 billion to transition various provincial transit systems to Presto in the end. That could have built a lot of desperately needed actual routes. As The Toronto Star noted: "The whopping sum is equal to the entire construction budget for the 11-kilometre Finch West LRT."

In Toronto alone the installation will cost at least $487 million.

$487 million would have gone some ways towards John Tory's entirely fictional "Smart Track".

It is half-a-billion squandered in one city alone just to collect fares.

There are the constant glitches that have led to conflicts, confusion, loss of revenue and even cases of kids being left off vehicles through no fault of their own.

Perhaps more troubling, though, is the fact that everything about Presto seems designed to deter transit use. Especially by casual users.

First, a Presto card costs you $6.00 just to get one. Does this apply to your first couple of rides as a fare? No. You have to load a minimum $10 in fares after that.

Then there is the fact that students and seniors need to go to prove that they are students and seniors to get the reduced fare. Why not simply allow people to load the reduced fare and then prove it upon inspection on the system? What of casual users who are seniors or students? I guess they either have to waste a colossal amount of time or accept paying a higher fare than they should have to when using Presto only points like the subway.

There are the kids 12 and under who are allegedly supposed to ride for free. They will have to have a Presto card to do so. After withering criticism, efforts will allegedly be made to waive the fees, though the question as to how reasonable it is to expect children to maintain and keep track of these cards remains.

Also, the TTC version of entering with kids under 6:

How do I access the fare gates with small children?
Place your small child or children in front of you. Then tap your PRESTO card on the reader. When the gates open, your child or children should walk through first, and then you should walk through immediately behind.

This will be enforced by TTC rent-a-cops who already have something of a dubious track record and whose primary role seems to be to intimidate and make the ride unpleasant for the 96-98% of users (at minimum) who are going about their daily business on the system honestly.

I have already looked at the essential, and essentially anti-transit, fallacies at work here in the article TTC fare fallacies -- Neoliberal delusions in transit costing. 

As is always the case under neo-liberal conceptions of public transit the emphasis is not at all on encouraging transit use but rather is beholden to narrow, counter-productive fixations on grandiose boondoggle schemes, cost-cutting that actually adds costs, fares and policing.

Presto as it is being implemented by the TTC is another in a long line of disastrous moves in a city that seems determined to keep everyone who can be in their cars.

Further Readings: 

Free Transit Resource Page

The TTC 'fare evasion' fraud and Toronto's fiscal chickens coming home to roost

TTC fare fallacies -- Neoliberal delusions in transit costing

Free transit: Three reasons it is an idea whose time has come