An Opus card reader on a turnstile at the Bonaventure Metro stationTypical recharging station inside the Cartier Metro station.Personal card reader for reloading Opus cards using the contact interface
Compared to the previous system, the Opus card is integrated with other transit networks of neighbouring cities, and does not risk becoming demagnetized and rendered useless. A new Opus card costs CAD$6. The cards expire after four years, and there is no charge for replacements.[citation needed]
One card can contain up to four different kinds of fares. For example, an Opus card can contain an STM monthly pass, ten STL tickets, six CIT Laurentides tickets, and two train tickets for Exo zone 5 or both individual STM tickets and a weekly or monthly pass. Unlike other transit cards, such as Presto (Ontario) and Compass (Metro Vancouver), the Opus is not a stored-value system. The appropriate fare is deducted when paying at any machine, in a similar fashion to PayPass, and daily, weekly, and monthly passes are used before individual tickets. The main goal behind the creation of this card was to reduce fare evasion in the province's transit systems.
The card is available at various points of sale where local transit fares are currently sold. Re-filling stations can be found at Montreal Metro stations, train stations, and Exo bus terminals, as well as from specified retailers where local transit fares are sold.
Costs to the STM related to the project were approximately $138 million, compared to the original estimated cost of some $100 million. The project was originally supposed to be implemented in 2006.
The Opus card has been widely criticized for its lack of stored-value capability and for being able to load only four types of tickets/passes simultaneously, factors that significantly reduce the capability and flexibility that would have otherwise been gained from a stored-value system.
Q4 2008 – Deployed for students on all STM, STL and RTL as well as Exo TRAM users.
Late Q4 2008 – Deployed for all regular fare users of all three transit authorities as well as Exo TRAM users.
Q2 2009 – Start of deployment for users of CIT systems.
Q2 2010 – End of deployment for users of CIT systems.
In preparation for this new step in Montreal's public transportation network, turnstiles that incorporate the reader and vending machines were installed in Metro stations; buses had previously been fitted with new fare boxes that incorporate the card reader, in order to ensure the uniformity of methods of payment across Montreal’s transit network and that of its suburbs.
