Chris_the_traveller Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 Good thing we exist and care to talk about these things. Or else nobody would know. Then again let's face it, the transit agencies only care about the majority of people that only require a monthly pass and nothing else. They are not looking to cater guys like us that might load an OPUS card with all sorts of fare media. True, but funnily enough the STM has poured millions into services that target specific clienteles that only use the bus occasionally. - 715 Vieux-Port (targets tourists that are visiting Montreal) - All the seniors shuttles (current ones and defunct 21/23 in CDN/NDG; target seniors that take the bus occasionally to do shopping) - Montreal Canadiens West island shuttle - 747 Aérobus On the other hand, they have indeed shown that they don't care much about the occasional riders. The fact that they abolished bus tickets in sets of 6 on magnetic cards at the beginning of the year was pretty disappointing in my opinion. Then there's the issue with Longueuil and Laval metro users - there is no 6 or 10-ticket option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMS Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I dont normally read that Quebecor rag 24Heures but the headline caught my eye that the capability to recharge one's OPUS card at home is curently being tested by the STM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_the_traveller Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 ... well OPUS sucks... I can't recharge my monthly pass onto my card because all four slots are filled (1 - monthly pass; 2 - STM tickets; 3 - RTL tickets; 4 - AMT zone 5 tickets). I'll have to wait until the first of the month, when the lineups are longest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMS Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 How about carrying a second card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph99929 Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 ... well OPUS sucks... I can't recharge my monthly pass onto my card because all four slots are filled (1 - monthly pass; 2 - STM tickets; 3 - RTL tickets; 4 - AMT zone 5 tickets). I'll have to wait until the first of the month, when the lineups are longest... Quite right it sucks! Having a limit of four slots is arbitrary. There is absolutely nothing technolgically that would prevent the addition of more slots other than government incompetency. All an "OPUS" card is is a 10-cent Chinese-made RFID card that carries a unique identifier which then points to your account in a database somewhere. No reason this database couldn't enable more types of tickets to be added to each account, or for tickets to be loaded for all agencies at any service point in Quebec! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novalfs26001 Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 Quite right it sucks! Having a limit of four slots is arbitrary. There is absolutely nothing technolgically that would prevent the addition of more slots other than government incompetency. All an "OPUS" card is is a 10-cent Chinese-made RFID card that carries a unique identifier which then points to your account in a database somewhere. No reason this database couldn't enable more types of tickets to be added to each account, or for tickets to be loaded for all agencies at any service point in Quebec! Fares on OPUS (pases, tickets etc...) are stored on the chip, which is probably the reason for limited space. The opus readers on buses are not connected to the server live. If the system was not like that you would not be able to purchase your fare and use it right away, you'd have to wait for all readers to be updated. It is for the same reason that for the online fare purchase program you need an encoder that plugs into the computer. I agree that OPUS has its shortcomings but I seriously believe that 4 slots meets the needs of almost all commuters. For the people that need more, 2 opus card still take up less space in your wallet than an old CAM card and 4 other booklets of various train and bus tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_the_traveller Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I read this on the AMT's facebook page: Hi This was my first month using the train, and on September 15th, I bought a monthly pass for $147, thinking that it was a MONTHLY pass, and therefore it would last until October 15th. I found out this morning after an OPUS scan by an AMT employee that my card had been expired for 10 days now. He fined me $100. How was I suppose to know that the monthly passes only lasted until the first of the month? That is insanely moronic. On top of it all, it DOES NOT say that anywhere when I purchased my fare, so I had no way of knowing. I don't live on the island of Montreal and this is my first time taking public transit, and I have to say, IT WILL BE THE LAST. How is this scenario possible? He says he bought his monthly pass on the 15th. I thought passes were only available from the 20th to the 5th... am I wrong about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph99929 Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I read this on the AMT's facebook page: How is this scenario possible? He says he bought his monthly pass on the 15th. I thought passes were only available from the 20th to the 5th... am I wrong about this? I remember hearing somewhere that you can buy monthly passes up to the 20th of the current month, though only at billeteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boo2277 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 I leave for quebec city soon and I wonder if anyone could clear something up. Ive heard of it being possible to use chip cards interchangeably on different systems provided theyre the same type of card. Would anyone know whether or not it would be possible to use a Montreal OPUS card in Quebec city and to load up RTC fares on my current OPUS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novalfs26001 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 I leave for quebec city soon and I wonder if anyone could clear something up. Ive heard of it being possible to use chip cards interchangeably on different systems provided theyre the same type of card. Would anyone know whether or not it would be possible to use a Montreal OPUS card in Quebec city and to load up RTC fares on my current OPUS? Yes this can be done, as long as you have the space (opus has 4 slots for different fares) on your card. The opus cards issued in Quebec City are the same as those issued in Montreal. They all come from the same place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclair14 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 I leave for quebec city soon and I wonder if anyone could clear something up. Ive heard of it being possible to use chip cards interchangeably on different systems provided theyre the same type of card. Would anyone know whether or not it would be possible to use a Montreal OPUS card in Quebec city and to load up RTC fares on my current OPUS? It always depend on the fare you plan to use.Tickets, 7 days and monthly pass can be loaded to OPUS . Day and two days pass cannot be loaded onto OPUS and will be encoded on an Occasionnelle smart card (free) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boo2277 Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 Thank you both for your replies. This works out perfectly. I really appreciate the swift response as i leave in a half hour for quebec. Time to enjoy my vacation thanks to the simplicity of the metrobus and eXpress bus.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellergraham Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I am normally a strong proponent of the OPUS card and any sort of Information Technology used in public transit (GPS, Wifi, etc). I recently had an issue with an OPUS card approaching expiration (regular cards expire after 4 years). A quick check of the card in question showed the following tickets: 4 Tickets - CIT Le Richelain 4 Tickets - Societe de transport de Laval Expiration date: July 31, 2013. At the Customer Service booth at Montmorency, the agent quickly replaced my soon to be expired card and gave me a new card. The entire process took less than 3 minutes. Here's where the problem started, I returned back to the same OPUS machine to check the new card and it stated the following: 4 Tickets - Societe de transport de Laval Expiration date: July 31, 2017. In other words, the CIT Le Richelain tickets had vanished. I returned in line and we checked the old card again, on the agent's screen it showed only the STL tickets. I was advised to call AMT Customer Service which I did and they advised nothing more could be done. I then called Gestrans (Customer service for CIT Le Richelain and CIT Roussillon), they checked the old card (which I still had the number stored in my phone) and they were not able to see the CIT Le Richelain tickets, but advised me to go downtown to TCV and they may be able to do something. Back in line at the kiosk of Montmorency and they're telling me nothing more can be done and I'm not able to get back my old card. I then remember that I occasionally take pictures of the content shown on my OPUS cards in order to feed this into a personal database of mine (geek alert). Surely enough, I found the picture and showed this to the AMT personel. They were shocked that I was able to prove the contents of my own OPUS card, and the discussion now turns to can I take my old card back and bring it down to TCV (which I was more than willing to do myself). The agent goes into another room and calls someone (TCV??, AMT HQ??). I've now been at Montmorency for almost an hour. In the end, I had to fill out a form (mandatory - in front of them) and send my old OPUS card back to AMT HQ for Investigation. I was able to keep the new card with the STL tickets and should hear back from them within a week or two. Strangely, The AMT kiosk, AMT Customer Service, and Gestrans were able to see that I had purchased and used AMT Train tickets on this same OPUS card (over a year ago). Stay tuned... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webfil Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I have been told at STM customer service (Berri-UQAM) that a transportation agency cannot transfer onto an Opus card the products it does not sell. When my Opus expired last October, I've been there to transfer my STM monthly pass and RTC tickets from my old card to my new; they've transfered my CAM onto an Opus and RTC tickets onto a L'occasionnelle. I had the same problem as you in 2011, when the agent at Studio de photo McGill transfered the first line of content of my previous Opus onto the new one. I lost an active Laissez-passer 1 jour, which I had to fight over the agent's incompetence to recover, only having kept the interac "reçu de transaction" (instead of "Reçu de vente"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMS Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 On a similar #opusfail tangent, I am now on my third employee OPUS card after my second one crapped out on me. And I didn't even bend it this time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellergraham Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 I have been told at STM customer service (Berri-UQAM) that a transportation agency cannot transfer onto an Opus card the products it does not sell. I seriously hope this gets rectified. It makes no sense seeing you can load 4 tickets from different organizations on the same card. As an update, I've received a Carte Occasionnelle in the mail yesterday which (should) contain my reconstituted CIT Le Richelain tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_the_traveller Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 They now have newer OPUS cards that say "carte à durée de vie limitée" on the back. I wonder how much of a hassle the AMT and STM have had replacing expired OPUS cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMS Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 What a piece this card is. I recently had to ditch a card on the verge of expiration with seven valid STL tokens on the card yet neither the billeterie metropolitaine at Longueuil or Montmorency could transfer the fares to a new card because the card hadn't been used in so long that the card number was no longer listed as active! How is this even allowed to happen I will never know. I am an employee and I am on my 3rd card and I haven't even reached my third anniversary yet. Unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph99929 Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 I recently had to ditch a card on the verge of expiration with seven valid STL tokens on the card yet neither the billeterie metropolitaine at Longueuil or Montmorency could transfer the fares to a new card because the card hadn't been used in so long that the card number was no longer listed as active! How is this even allowed to happen I will never know. Small claims court? It's totally unacceptable. I count myself as lucky given that I do take multiple transit agencies regularly and have a slew of tickets on two different reduced-fare cards (only ever paid the "privilege" on one) and have never "lost" one. I know I will be furious when (and not if) it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMS Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 I'd suggest small-claims court for something a little more major (like being detained for taking harmless pics in the metro...?) I am just grateful that as a transit employee I do not have to pay for crap like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now