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Toronto's days of using an antiquated fare medium—the token—on its public transit system are coming closer to an end, as the first nineteen of the TTC's 1900 buses to be Presto-enabled began to run on routes out of the Queensway Garage in Etobicoke on May 2nd.
That day also marked the replacement of the turnstiles at Wellesley station with new Presto fare gates, the 28th Toronto subway station to support Presto, but just the second to use the new gates, which are designed to provide unobstructed and accessible entry for wheelchairs, strollers and bicycles.
New Presto gates are also currently being installed at Bay, Sherbourne, St Clair, Dufferin, and Dupont stations, and will soon be under construction, over the course of May and June, at Landsdowne, St Clair West, Jane, Old Mill, Royal York, Runnymede and Christie. Bus coverage will expand from routes run from garages in the west of the city and move east as the year progresses.
All TTC streetcars already use this smart card system, and by the end of the year the Commission promises that the all vehicles and stations will support it. Presto already works on the whole of the surrounding local systems in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, plus the regional GO network, plus the OC Transpo system in Ottawa.
Tokens and metropasses are slated to be phased out in 2017. Not only will Presto cards provide a more convenient way to pay (and provide an easy way to track transit users through the system), they will also provide the flexibility to offer many different fare options in future, particularly as the TTC and transit operators outside Toronto will be using the same payment system. The TTC and Metrolinx are currently in negotiations about fare 'integration', and the TTC is also studying discounts for the elderly and those on low incomes.
