Fare coming for part-time office goers
The ARTM wants to figure out a new kind of transit pass for people who go to the office a couple of days a week, but work from home the rest of the time.
Seems to me if you’re going to use a half dozen trips a week, putting tickets on your Opus should work fine. You just have to remember to recharge it when you’re running low.
jeather 10:46 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
I think if you’re going 3x/week the cost is about the same for individual tickets vs a monthly pass.
Andrew 10:49 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
Was there ever any update to the project to pay by phone? ( http://mtlcityweblog.com/2020/09/09/more-on-the-bus-fares-by-phone/ )
If your commute doesn’t include the metro and you still apparently need to buy a $20 thing to do it online, adding tickets is still kind of a chore.
Kate 10:55 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
I haven’t tried paying by phone on the bus. I’ll look into it.
As for getting tickets onto your Opus it may depend where you live. I can get mine bumped up at my corner dépanneur. You may not have to go to a metro station.
Oof. Back in 2016 they were already promising paying by phone, and a year ago MTL Blog was posting about it. But despite promises, my Transit app doesn’t offer to sell me tickets, so I don’t see any mode for using my phone.
Has anyone used Apple Pay? Neither of my cards will register with Apple Pay so I can’t experiment.
Joey 11:16 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
How old is Opus? (Checks: Wiki says it was deployed en masse in spring 2009.) Twelve-and-a-half years in and we’re still using cards that don’t update in real time, that can’t be reloaded automatically or online, that are linked to byzantine fare structures that require you to predict with considerable precision how often you’ll be using public transit to avoid overpaying, that require a physical card that cannot be stored on a mobile device, etc. How is it that we’ll inagurate an entirely new light rail system before we implement fare-card technology that was common *before* Opus was introduced?
As a former daily commuter who has switched to an occasional transit user, I’m always relucatant to hop on a bus because I never know which, if any, of the four Opus cards I have (a) still work and (b) have any fares on them.
Aside from making the tech meet the standards that are expected today (described above), the various transit agencies would be wise to adopt a fare structure that adapts as you use your card. So in any given month, you’re charged $X for the first Y number of fares until you reach a threshold that lowers your rate. The first fare might be equivalent to the price of one ride. After, I dunno, five fares in a week you are shitfed to a weekly discounted rate. After say 20, you pay the maximum monthly rate. It’s easy enough to tweak the amounts and thresholds; the benefit is allowing users not to have to worry about refilling cards – you use your pass as much or as little as you like and you pay the optimal price depending on your use. If you want to be fussy you can plan your trips to max out your savings, but if not you don’t have to worry about all this nonsense.
MarcG 11:24 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
‘shitfed’ might well be the best typo ever
ant6n 12:00 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
Classic non commuting passes in Europe are “9 o’clock” or “10 o’clock” passes, which are monthly passes that are not valid during weekdays morning rush hour.
Conceivable would also be some monthly pass that allows u to pay reduced fares, which have a break even of perhaps 10 trips per month.
Uatu 13:59 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
I bought virtual tickets for the exo south shore bus via the transit app. It was just a qr code that I showed the driver as I got on.
Jonathan 15:39 on 2021-09-13 Permalink
I thought that the STM was considering doing a maximum fare structure… meaning that a person would pay whatever the price is (3.75 a ride), when they’ve done a round trip in a day, the next cost is the difference to the ’round trip’ fare, if a few more are done, then it’s the ‘unlimited day’ fare, so on and so forth until you reach the maximum monthly cost of a transit pass. I’ve seen this in a few cities. I think perhaps Portland Oregon has this structure?
Anyway, all to say that this seems to be the most useful way given the change in commuting habits.