| Opus card | |
| Location: | Quebec, Canada |
| Launched: | 2008–2009 |
| Service 1: | Exo |
| Service 2: | Réseau express métropolitain |
| Service 3: | Société de transport de Montréal |
| Service 8: | All suburban transit authorities (see article) |
| Credit Expiry: | None |
| Homepage: | carteopus.info |
Opus (stylized as OPUS) is a rechargeable, dual interface (contact/contactless) stored-value smart card using the Calypso Standard and is used by major public transit operators in Greater Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.[1] [2] [3] It complies with the ISO/IEC 14443 standard for smartcards[4] and can be read by smartphones with an NFC antenna.[5]
The name of the card in French, French: Carte OPUS, is a pun on the word in French for smart cards with embedded chips, French: carte à puce.[6]
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.
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.
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.
| Transit authority | Participant since | Validation method | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exo[7] | Q2 2008 | ACS E-Validator | |
| Société de transport de Montréal[8] | Q2 2008 | GFI Genfare Odyssey | |
| Société de transport de Laval[9] | Q2 2008 | GFI Genfare Odyssey | |
| Réseau de transport de Longueuil[10] | Q2 2008 | Proxibus VPE 415 Proximity Reader | |
| Réseau de transport de la Capitale[11] | Q2 2008 | Proxibus VPE 415 Proximity Reader | |
| Ville de Sainte-Julie | April 2009 | Proxibus VPE 415 Proximity Reader | |
| Société de transport de Lévis[12] | Q4 2011 | Proxibus VPE 415 Proximity Reader | |
| Réseau express métropolitain[13] | Q2 2023 | Conduent turnstiles |