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TTC board meeting is underway at city hall. You can follow along via Youtube here:
The most notable item on the agenda is probably the update on Presto implementation, which says Metrolinx isn't living up to the fare card agreement and the TTC can't say when it will be able to phase out older forms of payment. thestar.com/news/gta/2019/…
As TTC CEO Rick Leary delivers his monthly report, Metrolinx's VP for Presto Annalise Czerny has entered the room and taken a seat at the back. She has spoken to media in recent days to push back against the conclusions of the TTC's Presto report.
Leary's report, based on April numbers, show that new streetcars that month had a reliability of 12,000 km mean distance between failures. But since then they've reached 28,000 km. Target is 35,000 km, which should have been reached months ago.
Bombardier says it will get to reliability target by the end of year, according to Leary.
"While the fleet is safe to operate, reliability remains a concern," says Leary of the SRT fleet. "We continue to look at how much longer the TTC can keep the SRT operating."
Outside the meeting, Czerny calls the TTC report on Presto "unbalanced" and not fair to Metrolinx, but insists on the staff level Metrolinx and the TTC are working well together to implement the fare card.
Former NPD MP and current board member of TTCriders Mike Sullivan is deputing. He says Metrolinx decision to sell Presto cards exclusively through Shoppers has left large gaps in coverage. He says it's a human rights issue.
*NDP, obviously
Sullivan says the gaps in coverage for stores that sell Presto cards is a "key failing," and urges the TTC not to complete the switch to the fare card until it is rectified.
"Clearly they have not delivered on the promise that they made to you," Sullivan tells TTC board of Presto retail network. "They haven't delivered on accessibility."
TTC deputy CEO Kirsten Watson now delivering the Presto report. She recounts how a decade ago the TTC put out a tender for a fare card system that would have open payment, but under pressure from the province adopted Presto instead.
TTC has identified five big outstanding issues with Presto: lack of open payment, gaps in retail outlet network, unavailability of flexible fare rules, unavailability of Presto tickets on buses and streetcars, below target device reliability.
On the left, what needs to happen for TTC to stop selling old fare media like tickets and tokens. On the right, what needs to happen to stop accepting older media. Some of these are the TTC’s responsibility, not Metrolinx’s 
TTC board member Joanne De Laurentiis, who used to be CEO of Interac, says of Presto, "we're dealing with an inadequate, inferior technology." She notes Presto tech is supplied by a private company, Accenture.
The board is reminded of the rather startling fact that seven years after the TTC and Metrolinx signed the Presto master agreement, there is no formal agreement on service levels the program is required to achieve.
There are some clear targets laid out in the original agreement, but the service level agreement would lay out consequences for those not being met, according to TTC legal staff.
The TTC has only seen a redacted version of Metrolinx's agreement with Shoppers. Metrolinx claims that it can't release the full thing to the TTC because it has info about Metrolinx's economic interests.
The effect of this is that the TTC, the largest transit agency in the country, does not know the details of the agreement that governs the sale of the fare card, which is supposed to be its customers primary form of payment.
If you can find me a single person who thinks that's an ideal arrangement, I will give you a shiny new token.
TTC legal staff acknowledge not knowing the details of Presto's agreement with Shoppers makes it "virtually impossible" for the board to do its job regarding implementation of the fare card.
"We're not aware of any development work" Presto has done on open payment since 2016, says TTC's fare card lead Allan Foster.
Cllr Shelley Carroll highlights section of report that notes original goal of Presto was inter-regional fare integration, something that the fare card has yet to achieve. TTC can't use Presto when picking up customers on routes that go outside of Toronto.
Metrolinx would point to use of Presto to enable discount between GO and TTC is an example of inter-regional fare integration. However, TTC says the promised functionality is not all there yet.
Cllr Carroll moves a motion asking for Metrolinx to write a report outlining its progress on delivering open payment on Presto.
Turns out Carroll's motion might be redundant, as the board already votedto ask Metrolinx for an open payment update.
Vice-chair Alan Heisey moves a motion asking, among other things, to provide a detailed plan to meet Presto reliability targets. He calls the current system performance “embarrassing”
Here’s Heisey’s motion:
"There are a lot of things that need to be improved," says Cllr Brad Bradford. Calls lack of service level agreement seven years into the Presto contract term "appalling."
"Not that I want to say I told you so..." says Cllr Denzil Minnan-Wong, but he wanted to go with another fare card provider before Presto "was shoved down our throats."
Minnan-Wong moves a motion asking for a report on the possibility of filing a human rights complaint “should Metrolinx fail to make Presto cards and media widely and conveniently available to the public.”
Cllr Jennifer McKelvie asks for an annual report on “innovative payment options” being used by other cities.
And Chair Jaye Robinson asks for a report on talks with Metrolinx over TTC’s financial claims related to Presto by September. If they haven’t been resolved, board would “give full consideration” to triggering dispute resolution process.
Cllr Karygiannis asks if the TTC's correspondence to Metrolinx about Presto could contain some sort of threat.
All of the Presto motions carry. On to the next item.
