The next step would be to change banks or plans (who charges $0.50 per debit transaction??)

You have
1 Trip tokens
6 Trip tokens
Day pass
Week pass
and monthly

Each trip token is one way only, so if you`re planning on going somewhere and coming back you automatically need at least 2. The way it's set up is you put your OPUS in the machine, pay for one token, remove the OPUS, put it back in and pay for a second token. This is a huge hassle, and resulted in having to pay extra bank fees (0.50 cents per transaction).

The way the they have their system set up, it cost's you 6.50$ for a round trip instead of 5.50$. A dollar here and there and the wasted money quickly adds up.

What the STM ought to have done was to issue 6-fare cards with a different design or logo from the the single-ticket ones. Even a different colour ink would have been sufficient in order to alleviate confusion by users who for some odd reason do not comprehend that they have more than one fare on their 6-ticket card.

Then there was this glaring glitch: let's say you boarded a bus (route 51, for example) with your 6-ticket card. Then, during your trip, the driver takes the bus out of service due to a breakdown or for whatever other reason. Next, when you board another 51 bus following behind and innocently slide your ticket into this new bus's validator, it deducts another fare--despite the fact that your original fare payment on the bus which you had just vacated through no fault of your own is still within the 120 minute time-frame.

This happened to me, and when I returned to speak to the staff in those Metro "Blue Boxes" explaining the new system, they seemed amazed, but gave me a refund because my ticket clearly indicated the time frame.

Presumably (as occurred prior to the existence of the new system), when boarding your second bus of the same route, you ought to only flash your ticket to the driver and not enter it into the validator in order to prevent having another fare unfairly deducted, but how many passengers even realized that they'd even been cheated out of another fare, and not only that, but was every single driver trained to understand this eventuality to not demand that a passenger physically validate his or her ticket regardless?

Growing pains on any new fare system are to be expected, of course, so let's see how this all plays out in the coming months and years.

Bottom line: keep all validator receipts and tickets in the eventuality of any fare or payment disputes. And please don't toss those used tickets on the ground. There is enough litter as it is!

This is not true. When you get on a bus and you use your opus card, it tells you how many tickets are left on the card ... if you are using tickets that is. If you have a monthly pass it has nothing to tell you.

STM phone is 514-786-4636. Press O to talk to a human being.

I don't take public transport much. I'm retired & every penny counts for me, so 12.75$ is off my food budget. I'm phoning them tomorrow, but honestly don't hold out much hope in getting my $$ back. What a ripoff. And who is coming up with all these ill-planned, badly thought out new fare schemes? I feel like I'm living in the back of beyond! The absolute worst part of this mess is that from what I read & hear, transit users feel they have zero recourse or control over ANY of it. Like today, the driver just shrugged his shoulders and said "There's nothing you can do." To top it off, on the way home later (after a root canal, oh joy!), the bus was packed & I was behind the driver. He slammed on the brakes & I fell onto his shoulder. He yelled at me! This is truly the Twilight Zone!

What, WHAT was wrong with the small little tickets made of recyclable paper?! now we have larger tickets which litter the ground! Before the machine TOOK your ticket, and I am HOPING the STM would recycle them, but now there is no chance of that, they just end up all over the ground! It's so so so stupid!

OPUS is cool, but there has been so much confusion around it, no one seems to know which way is up... and that line at the McGill metro to get the student OPUS is completely insane. No way should the STM think it's reasonable to expect a student to stand in a line up for 4 hours on a weekday between the hours of 9-6... Most students would have to skip a class to do that. It's completely unreasonable.

Poor organisation and terrible follow through. Whoever was in charge of this whole system change really really screwed up.

So confusing!

As far as I know (and as far as I read), when you pass your Opus card in a reader, you have an hour after that to take a transfer without the system charging you another time. It's automatic. So, if you take the bus after taking the metro, and you beep, it's not supposed to cost you anything.

But anyway, try it one time, and look at the screen where it says how many charges you have... then you'll be sure if it works correctly... or ask the hordes of stupidly standing there people with a big "?" on their shirts in the metro station. I think they're there to help you with questions like this (in addition to standing there looking helpless).

The law was actually quietly changed a few years ago to allow this totally new modus operandi. Well, it’s not THAT totally new, as the system has been in use on AMT commuter trains for the last decade.

Another interesting tid-bit is that the law was also changed to give the status of “peace officer” to ticket inspectors; as a matter of fact, on the transit property (but nowhere else) they are deemed to be police officers with the same, er…, “privileges”.

The theory behind all that, of course, is to curb fraud, estimated at about $16 million per annum. But don’t worry, the new fare collection system won’t mean that fares will decrease…

* * *

In many cities where such smart cards were introduced lately, the cards have been cracked and some technically savvy people have been able to get free rides.

How long will it take for Montréal to be cracked???

If I use my OPUS card to enter the subway, no problem, I insert my card, "Bip, Bop, Beep" as they say, and I enter thr turnstile, and a fare is deducted from the card, HOWEVER, I do not recieve a transfer (apparently none is necessary?) But my question is this... After I paid my fare, what happens if I then insert my OPUS card on the bus at my destination transfer point? Does it know I already paid my fare or does it deduct a second fare?

Since I am not sure, I don't want to loose money by paying double fares when I transfer, I always take a paper transfer from the machine before I get on the metro, but this seems pointless to me when the technology is already in place to avoid this.

Can anyone answer this?

So here's a major flaw, you have to stand a certain distance away from the gate while you put the card into the machine. How dumb is that?!

I know the "helpers" are there to help, but they just slow down the the people "in the know". I feel like a running back trying to avoid their tackles.

Also, someone mentioned the size of these things are like credit cards... they're actually larger, they don't fit into my wallet without folding. Whomever decided on the dimensions DROPPED THE BALL, BIG TIME.

stmsucks.qc.ca --- please, someone register it! with a few ad sponsorships your site will be a huge success.

It may have changed since then, but at that time all the gates at metro stations were left open by default. Small plastic tokens could be bought and one should be deposited before entering the turnstile. Failure to deposit a token in the temptingly open turnstile would cause it to slam shut. Against your knees. Very Soviet, I felt.

The first time I used la Carte de Crotte in a bus, I was kinda humiliated by the driver, too, who treated me like if I was a retard or a child, overhelping me with a sarcastic voice. It's fun when they start a new system, that the people are always so "happy" to help you understand it.

You can read it here:
http://calepinsfelix.blogspot.com/2008/07/pter-ma-bulle.html

By the way, nice work with your blog and it's great that you follow Global Quebec's evolution in the art of lying to their viewers.