Union says Peggo cards costing city thousands daily

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2017 (2956 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The union representing most Winnipeg Transit employees said the city erred in picking the firm it did to deliver an electronic fare system, and it needs to fix the problems immediately.

Aleem Chaudhary, interim president of the Amalgamated Transit Union local 1505, said the system — dubbed Peggo when it replaced paper tickets — has been a costly mistake that civic officials refuse to acknowledge.

“Transit should have done their research before they went with this firm,” Chaudhary said.

“There are similar systems in place in other communities that are working, but ours has been trouble from Day 1.”

Chaudhary said it’s not realistic to suggest Transit replace the system after its $16-million investment, but added the longer the problems persist, the worse the situation is going to get — relations with riders will suffer and Transit risks seeing a further drop in ridership, with an accompanying loss in revenue it can’t afford.

He said Transit is losing $7,000 to $7,500 in fare revenue daily because of disputes with riders over their Peggo cards and an additional $500,000 or more annually in unnecessary maintenance costs.

Chaudhary said problems with the system are causing unnecessary conflicts between drivers and riders.

Peggo went into operation in July 2016 — three years behind schedule. The system uses a unique, reloadable fare card — similar to a debit card — that riders tap against an electronic reader when they board a Transit vehicle, replacing the need for paper tickets and transfers.

The readers proved problematic when first installed on buses. Winnipeg Transit refused to put the system into operation until the Quebec-based manufacturer fixed the system.

Other Canadian communities that initially went with the manufacturer cancelled their contracts, but Winnipeg Transit stuck with the firm.

Even with the system in operation, Transit has acknowledged there have been delays in the electronic readers recognizing when cards have been reloaded online and disputes with riders over cards suddenly losing payment records.

Transit has withheld about $2 million from the original $18-million price tag while the problems persist.

A civic spokeswoman said Transit believes it has solved the problem with the cards’ online purchase synchronization and it’s resolving what it says are a small number of outstanding problems with riders where purchases are not recognized by the on-bus readers.

The spokeswoman said Transit is unable to quantify the lost revenue or additional expense caused by the Peggo system, but said it did hire three additional temporary staff at its customer-service centre to help with the transition.

Transit said as of Aug. 31, there were 66,422 Peggo cards in use and they have been used more than five million times from June 1 to Aug. 31.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca