TTC riders criticize Presto card outage
Cause of glitch affecting credit, debit reloading system unknown
A system-wide outage affecting TTC riders’ ability to reload their Presto cards is being resolved “station-by-station,” according to Metrolinx.
The outage, which hit the Presto credit and debit reloading system Monday evening, caused issues for commuters and students heading back to school Tuesday.
Just after 11 a.m., Metrolinx spokesperson Anne-Marie Aikins said late credit/debit payment options were returning to Presto machines “station-bystation.”
“It should be fully throughout the system within the next few hours,” she said.
Earlier, the TTC tweeted that the issues had been fixed before putting out another tweet notifying customers of ongoing technical difficulties. During the busy morning commute, many people reported delays. Adrienne Middlebroo k, whose morning commute involved taking the subway and two buses, said she encountered long lines and confusion among TTC staff when she tried to reload her Presto card and transfer vehicles. “I went to the subway operator and he said to just go through,” she said, “but every subsequent bus driver … I had to explain that there were outages happening.”
People also took to Twitter to air their frustrations.
“1st day back to school and my pants are filthy from touching the side of my car, forgot my lunch, and can’t put $ on my presto. #greatstart,” Twitter user Kaitlin C wrote. “My morning commute was delayed as I had to go get change to be able to get on the TTC. I hope it’s fixed by the time I go home tonight.”
Aikins said the cause of the malfunction is not yet known.