The TTC has suspended work to install Presto fare gates at its subway stations due to the machines’ persistent mechanical and software problems, marking the latest setback in the troubled rollout of the smartcard system on Toronto’s transit network. In a report that will be debated at next Tuesday’s TTC board meeting, the agency’s acting chief executive officer Rick Leary revealed the deployment of the gates has been “paused” until the reliability issues are resolved.“We have been experiencing a variety of problems related to both hardware and software,” explained TTC spokesperson Stuart Green in an email. He said “the exact nature of all the issues is still being investigated” by the gates’ manufacturer, a German company called Scheidt & Bachmann.Although the details aren’t fully known, one of the problems is the high failure rate of the motors in the gates, which are supposed to open to allow riders access to the subway with the tap of a Presto card. As a result Scheidt & Bachmann is having to replace the motors on all 1,000 gates the TTC has contracted for. More than 800 gates are already in service, and will have to be repaired. The software issue was disclosed earlier this year, and has made it difficult for the TTC to detect when a gate has malfunctioned. The machines have a failure rate of about five per cent, according to Green.He couldn’t say when the installation would resume, or when it will be complete. According to the acting CEO’s report, to date fare gates have been installed at 115 entrances across 65 of the network’s 75 stations. Under the terms of its contract Scheidt & Bachmann is responsible for providing the parts and labour required to resolve any problems, and the transit agency can reduce its payments to the company based on the gates’ performance.“The TTC is not on the hook for this,” Green said. Scheidt & Bachmann ...
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