Online registration snafu for Etobicoke recreation programs

Registration for the city’s fall recreation programs in Etobicoke is now open, but some parents are saying the online process is flawed.

Mayor John Tory just announced on Thursday that server capacity has been increased by 25 per cent so more people can access the system online.

Etobicoke resident Stephan Peslar told 680 NEWS that he got up early Saturday morning to register his daughter for a fall rec program but while registration began at 7 a.m. he couldn’t get through until 7:30 a.m. By that point, it was too late.

“They are completely full and she is wait listed,” said Peslar. “That was the best I could do.”

He said he tried to hit refresh multiple times but the website kept saying ‘server unavailable, error.’

“More people are registering online than ever before, and thanks to the improvements, we were able to process more of those registrations faster than ever before,” said Matthew Cutler spokesperson for Park, Forestry and Recreation.

Cutler admits to having an issue with “a smaller portion of our online system,” and said that as a result less than 10 per cent of users received an error message when they tried to access the system.

“This could be resolved by refreshing their browser, and the issue was fully resolved by 7:30 a.m.,” said Cutler.

Overall, 31,449 registrations were completed within the first hour of it being open.

Sunday is registration day for fall programs in Scarborough.