Liselotte Vitzliputzli ([info]delqc) wrote in [info]montreal,
@ 2008-09-02 14:34:00
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Entry tags:bus passes, public transit (bus), public transit (metro), public transportation (bus), public transportation (how to)

Hoping for the benefits of being able to buy a monthly bus pas with my debit or credit card at the automatic machines in the metro stations (as opposed to carrying around $70 cash, having the metro booth person be missing, having them "run out" of bus passes, etc) as well as the advantage of the insurance policy (supposedly if you lose your bus pass the STM will be able to reimbourse you) I decided to buy an OPUS card today.



First, I tried to purchase one at the automatic machines in the metro station - no luck. These just recharge existing cards.

Then, I tried to check the STM website to find out where opus cards could be purchased. Unsurprisingly, the Where to buy it section of the STM website doesn't tell you where to buy the opus card. It states only that "The OPUS card is gradually going on sale throughout the metropolitan area ..." followed by instructions indicating how to FILL your opus card at the automated machines.

So, then I called the STM OPUS info line 514 STM-OPUS (514 786-6787) where the nice gentlemen told me I could buy a blank opus card from the metro ticket seller, as well as in a list of designated service areas available on the website. So I check the list and find a Pharmaprix close to here has them I go - and find out I didn't read the small print carefully enough; they will not be available at the Pharmaprix until the end of October.

So... I trek to the metro, and wait in line (September 2nd! Line is huge!) for the ticket operator to sell me an opus card. I finally get to the front of the line and am told the metro operator can't sell me an opus card because they are changing shift and I have to wait for the new guy, 5-10 min. So I say I wait and I step back for other people to be able to be served.

Eventually I am beckoned and I try (for the fourth time) to buy the card - but am told I cannot buy a blank opus card, contrary to what the STM opus info line informed me. Instead I have to buy it already filled with either one transit, six passes, or a monthly pass. I have only $5 cash, not nearly enough to buy a bus pass and the opus card. The guy tells me I can buy it with one ticket on it. I scrounge and count nickels and dimes and manage to come up with the extra change.

Finally, I am able to go to an automatic refill machine and add a monthly pass to the card. I have no idea if my single use fare is still available or deleted - I suppose time will tell.

To the STM: the technology problems of the opus card are MINOR compared with the communication problems. Is it really so difficult to have clear, accurate information available on the website, and via your operators? It really shouldn't be. A simple list of where opus cards are available, and in what denominations should be fairly simple to generate.

Also, the replacement option? Or, in other words, the main advantage of the opus cards? Registration of opus cards for those on full fare monthly passes will not be available until "the end of fall 2008". GREAT.

For regular fare transit users, I recommend waiting at least several months before upgrading to an opus card! Perhaps by then they will be more widely available and easier to acquire. What a hassle!!!


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[info]dgg
2008-09-02 08:06 pm UTC (link)
My mother and my brother who both got Opus cards have reported similar experiences. New York and London have had this technology in place for their respective public transit system for years but here in Montreal? It's like the very idea just fell out of the sky and STM are handling the implementation with the same grace as African baboons.

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[info]shinraisei
2008-09-02 10:54 pm UTC (link)
You can't purchase cards at machines I don't think at all. Don't think it's possible in Lyon or Paris or London--in those cities when I got their cards I was direced to their customer service offices at whichever station was open. (Also, when Paris changed their card Navigo to something different, I heard that apparently there were some funny problems perhaps similar to this)

Did you try Berri-UQAM? I got a OPUS Hebdo in late-August without a problem. (plus there's an info booth set up I think for monthly passes. I don't recall but the fellow asked if a) I was a student (yes, but in Ontario) and b) if I wanted a monthly pass and I said that no, I wanted a weekly and he directed to the regular booths)

Also, the replacement option? Or, in other words, the main advantage of the opus cards? Registration of opus cards for those on full fare monthly passes will not be available until "the end of fall 2008". GREAT.

I'm willing to bet that's because the customer service office at Berri has been under renovations for most of the summer. So no central customer service office connected to the network, no registration. When I went by there last week, they hadn't set up the computers yet but had the stuff ready for activating cards I could tell.

I must be the lucky one, because whenever I asked for help (at McGill, Vendome, Namur and Berri) I got clear, to the point, information. Even when I was examining when my card expired while at Vendome, one fellow came to me and asked if I needed any help whatsoever. When I was at Namur, of all stations, I had wanted to get a OPUS hebdo sometime in May but had not had access to the internet for a while so when getting some tickets, I asked the guy at the booth about the OPUS card (since he had one in front of him), he gave me as much info as possible saying that operators were still testing them and told me to check out the site; he guesstimated that his station wouldn't have them until the fall and to go to Jean-Talon, Lionel Groulx or Berri if I could.

I think the only problem I've had is with info regarding TRAM Opus cards. I'm personally suspecting you'd add the TRAM fare to your existing card. (So when you look at your 'profile' it says, for example "CAM Mensuel. Date d'expiration XX/XX/XXXX" and "TRAM Zones 1-3. Mensuel. Date d'expiration XX/XX/XXXX"--that's essentially how these cards work. Or that's what I know from what I've observed when they activate a card) But I dunno. We'll see when that comes. :)

A simple list of where opus cards are available, and in what denominations should be fairly simple to generate.

Did you check the "Fares" page of the OPUS site? That's got a fairly detailed list of what denominations are available for all the networks and the TRAM zones.

Anyways, what I'm plainly curious to know is, can you add an STL, RTL and STM fares on the same card. Because that would be convenient for those going to and from the STM network. (I had a friend who taught in Longueuil and from what I remember, she had a CAM plus a RTL pass or tickets)

Edited at 2008-09-02 10:55 pm UTC

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[info]delqc
2008-09-02 11:38 pm UTC (link)
Did you try Berri-UQAM?

The problem was not that the card was not available at a metro station. the problem was one of staff service (the 'i can't serve you I'm on my break") and then one of incorrect information (the card being unavailable for purchase alone).

Although - the card, like basic other fares for transit users, should at a minimum be available at every metro station. Like many other transit users I never pass through Berri-UQAM and there is no reason not to have a wider distribution.

Re the hypothesis that registration is unavailable due to renovations - this is just silly. The registration system will be a database and could be managed from anywhere... no need for a specific office. really there is no excuse to not have this available in conjunction with the card, and certainly the fact that it is NOT availble is a damn good reason to wait to buy the card.

Did you check the "Fares" page of the OPUS site?

The Opus fares page lists all the fares, and lists the price of the card as $3.50. it makes no mention of the fact that the card cannot be purchased alone, but only purchased in conjunction with another fare. fares listed are the same as those fares listed on the general STM site.

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[info]sparklymoon
2008-09-03 01:38 am UTC (link)
I had EXACTLY the same problems. I too tried the machines to no avail - I couldn't even get a pass with 1 ticket, much less the 6 I was trying to get. I went to the booth, where the woman in front of me bought a blank card, and when I tried to give him the change to buy a card, he said I had to buy the card with a ticket on it as well (after sighing, eventually putting down his phone, and rolling his eyes at me). Finally I ended up just throwing 2.75 in to get a ticket, and then pay another 2.75 this morning to get to work.

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[info]littlebones
2008-09-03 02:06 am UTC (link)
You can buy them at Plamondon metro. I asked for an adult pass and the teller asked me if I wanted an Opus. I only had $70 on me, so I refused.

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[info]eli_l
2008-09-03 11:48 am UTC (link)
The Opus card is indeed a nightmare. I had checked the website thoroughly before going, so I showed up with a printed schedule that proves I study there full time, an address proof and a picture ID. I went in the morning, an hour before the office opened, with my printed sheet already filled out and waited an hour and a half.

Some girl before me waited almost 2 hours and only had her ID card. She was turned away. She was definitely not happy.

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[info]julie_t
2008-09-05 01:23 pm UTC (link)
With all that, did you still need to give them your permanent code? Every form that I've been able to find asks for that information, and I'm rather leery about giving it to them. My brother-in-law is a union rep for the STM, and he told me some really scary things--namely that student cards won't be valid for the summer months anymore because students should be working instead of studying/saving, and that it will automatically be cancelled the day of your 26th birthday. And they'll start making people pay for the number of trips they take, hence them recording every single time you use the Opus card.

Given the fact that they're asking for our permanent code and that you have to authorize them to check the school's database, I worry that they'll automatically check how many courses a person takes in the winter & summer semesters, cancelling your card if ever you're not full-time or even if you fail a course... Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't like them to have all of this information about me.

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[info]eli_l
2008-09-05 03:00 pm UTC (link)
They did still ask for the permanent code. It's been awhile since I've had a student card, but I seem to recall that they asked that before.

I've also heard that the STM are looking into payment by number of trips. But if that happens it will happen regardless whether you have an Opus card or not. The card is just a handy way of them to track if it would be more lucrative I guess.

I really doubt that they automatically check your school record for failed or dropped classes, because of the buraucracy involved. But I don't doubt that the card will automatically go void on my 26.

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[info]fragglez
2008-09-14 05:45 am UTC (link)
OMG! I just moved here 2 weeks ago for school (I started on Sept 2 and got here like 2 days before). I just got my Student Opus card YESTERDAY because I had to go in several times before I had everything I needed. I tried looking online for info and didn't find much so I asked at school and they told me I could get it at the McGill metro. So I go thinking I could maybe get my pass that day (not). I waited in line a bit before somebody actually gave me the form to fill out (I am from Gatineau, and to get your pass you just wait in line, give them your student ID and they give it to you so I didn't know). I realized that I didn't know my permanent code off by heart and I needed to get it stamped by school so I left. The next time I went in I had all that filled out but I didn't have proof of residency, which nobody told me I had to have and I read the form dozens of times and it doesn't say you have to have PROOF of residency. It says you need to BE a resident which I now AM. So I leave again, now having to wait for some kind of mail to come in that proves I live in the city (even though it should be obvious since I go to school here). Needless to say, I am NOT impressed with the system of getting a student pass. It is so inconvenient, they don't tell you the proper information, etc. I don't mind the opus card itself (and I like that you can refill your card at the terminals at the metro stations) but could they make it even more difficult to get one?! AHH!

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[info]liberationparty
2008-11-24 09:59 pm UTC (link)
thank you so much for posting this. like you said, the stm site is useless on this subject. thank you for clearing things up for me.

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