Don’t believe everything you see on a sign, particularly in a TTC station.

The much-anticipated rollout of the Presto electronic fare card on the TTC continues to lurch along, behind schedule and with hiccups that have some people thinking it was a mistake.

Presto allows TTC and GO Transit riders to load cash onto a card, which is electronically deducted when the card is tapped on a reader at the entrance to stations, streetcars and buses.

But implementation has so far been limited to 14 stations, while the schedule calls for readers to be installed at another nine stations and on 50 streetcars by the end of this year.

TTC chair Karen Stintz has said she expected Presto to be in place across the entire TTC system in time for the 2015 Pan Am Games, but is now doubtful the timeline will be met.

Riders at Museum station might be thinking the same thing, after a sign announcing the arrival of Presto went up last fall but was recently taken down, while the readers have yet to appear.

A reader complained on SeeClickFix that the sign said installation “was to begin 29 September 2013 and be completed by 4 November. When that deadline was missed another sign went up with a deadline of 31 December.

“When that deadline was missed, the sign was simply removed without any further information provided.”

The reader posted a photo of the sign, which said “we are preparing this station to support the future installation of Presto electronic fare payment equipment,” with a Nov. 4 completion date.

STATUS: TTC spokesman Danny Nicholson pointed out the sign said the work was to support the future installation of Presto readers. It was meant to alert riders to preparations for the equipment, not the arrival of readers, he said. The TTC still doesn’t know when they’ll be installed at Museum, he said, noting it’s up to Presto. Nicholson added that the TTC will be clearer in its future Presto signage. Good idea. It may have been well intended in putting up the sign, but it created the illusion that card readers would soon be in place. It also contributes to a perception that Presto has so far failed to meet expectations.

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