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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012
613-738-0330
Inside OC Transpo Presto NEWS cards delayed again More cards to be released in January but full rollout pushed to early summer Laura Mueller laura.mueller@metroland.com
Career Day at Roberta Bondar Public School showcases jobs. – Page 7
CITY HALL NEWS
City buys two forested areas in Riverside South to preserve woodlots. – Page 19
COMMUNITY SPORTS
Professional basketball comes to town with new yet-to-be-named franchise. – Page 49
EMC news - All OC Transpo riders won’t get access to the Presto smart card payment system until May or June – almost a year after the system was supposed to be in use. The beleaguered system has already faced a seven-month delay after technical glitches stalled the planned July 1 launch. Metrolinx, the provincial agency that oversees the smart card system that’s currently used in the Greater Toronto Area, will release an additional 10,000 Presto cards in midJanuary. Those cards will start to work on buses on Feb. 1. If everything is working to the city and Metrolinx’s satisfaction, a full rollout could happen by June. The city has negotiated a $3-million discount on its $23.5-million Presto bill to account for the delay. That’s despite insistence from Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig that the system is now “fully functional,” with more than 98 per cent of payment taps working correctly. The additional delay would help Metrolinx “fine tune” the system to prepare for more users, he said. “The system is fully functional right now and I think the issue really is when is the right time to go to the next level,” McCuaig said. Metrolinx officials indicated in August that they planned to phase-in the cards, but the timeline wasn’t clear. The city was planning to distribute as many as 200,000 Presto cards starting last June. That number is expected the serve the total number of OC Transpo customers anticipated to use the cards in Ottawa. While Presto is used in several cities in southern Ontario including Toronto, Ottawa is the first city to roll out a “new generation” system. Some of
the 2,000 people involved in the pilot project had been getting error messages when they tapped their cards on the readers to pay their bus fare in the summer, while others reported that the cards weren’t recognizing when the user topped them up with more value. The implementation timeline is scheduled to be announced on April 17,l along with a report updating transit commissioners on how the system is working with 12,000 users. Full rollout could happen on May 1 or June 1, 2013. But the city also negotiated a clause that would allow either OC Transpo or Metrolinx to withdraw from the deal before June 1. In that case, Metrolinx would absorb the costs from setting up cards readers and other equipment. It’s unclear if the $9.2 million the provincial government kicked in for the project would still be available if Ottawa ditched Presto and found another payment system, but that process could take another three years, OC Transpo general manager John Manconi estimated. An escape clause was missing from the original agreement and it’s something Manconi and OC Transpo staff should be applauded for negotiating now, transit commission chairwoman Diane Deans said. Deans said she wasn’t as involved in the rollout in the beginning and relied on advice from staff, including former OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier and Metrolinx officials. “I’ve learned as we’ve gone along that this is much more complex than I certainly knew and (more complex) than we were getting from our staff at the time. “It has become clear to me that trying to issue 200,000 cards on a single day is probably not the best idea,” Deans said. See METROLINX, page 4
EDDIE RWEMA/METROLAND
Gators forward Mathieu Gagnon drives the ball during the opening game of the Ottawa Power Wheelchair Hockey League between his team and the Sharks at Carleton University’s Norm Fenn Gymnasium on Nov. 25.
Wheelchair league expands Eddie Rwema eddie.rwema@metroland.com
EMC sports - The Ottawa Power Wheelchair Hockey League celebrated its expansion to two teams during a game last week at Carleton University.
The Sharks defeated the Gators 4-2 at Norm Fenn Gymnasium on Sunday, Nov. 25. The hockey league was established by Carleton University students in 2009, for players who use wheelchairs and have limited upper body strength or mobility.
“This event showcases the fact that people with disabilities can get out and join a team and ... play the sport that they love,” said Donna Haycock, chairwoman of the hockey league. See WHEELCHAIR, page 3
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