Presto reps announced today that the much-hyped tap-and-go system will now launch Feb. 1, 2013, seven months after its original planned debut.
Company officials told the transit commission they’ve fixed some of the bugs and are confident they will have the program ready, but the commission expressed doubts about Presto’s competence in delivering a fully operational system by early next year.
“How can we have confidence in any date you give us at this point?” asked transit chair Diane Deans.
The system is facing several problems, including unregistered taps and wiring trouble. But the biggest issue is that the readers on the bus are not shutting down properly, resulting in a white screen.
Presto is operational in Toronto and Hamilton, but Ottawa has received a new “second generation system” that has been tested in labs but has not seen much field testing.
Scott Graham of Accenture – the company that created the system – said progress has been made in fixing some of the tech problems, but technicians are still trying to find the root cause of the “white screen” dilemma.
Metrolinx president Bruce McCuaig apologized for the delay and said the company will offset reasonable costs stemming from it. The pushed-back debut will cost the city $100,000 every month the payment system is not up-and-running.
McCuaig proposes that, in the interim, the project team maintains the ongoing Presto pilot program, finds solutions, and completes installations of readers on buses.
The commission criticized the Presto team for telling the city that the program would be ready by July 1. The team then told city officials, just before the launch, the problems were bigger than anticipated.
“I realize that we need to rebuild that confidence,” said McCuaig, "and it’s going to take a bit of time to do that.”
“We better get it out by Feb. 1,” said Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney. “We don’t want another black eye on this one.”
“We are not happy customers today,” added Deans. She and transit general manager John Manconi have agreed to the February extension, but the deal is contingent on Metrolinx picking up the tab on costs stemming from the delay.
In response to the Presto delay, the commission passed a motion from Deans to extend the ECOPass for one year.
Manconi said payments to Metrolinx have been stopped, and if the root cause of the system’s problems is not found in the next month, it will be time to start “thinking about Plan B.”