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  OPUS card
 

Practical, smart and secure

Your OPUS card is part of your daily bus and métro travel across the island of Montréal.

You can charge various transit fares onto your OPUS card, according to your needs. For example, you can load it with a monthly fare, a weekly fare or even a series of single trips for the STM network as well as with single trips on RTL or STL buses. To load your fares, go to one of the 500 points of sale, use one of the 200 fare vending machines or recharging terminals or have the fare collector in the métro load it for you.

A durable card

Handle your card with care and it will last for up to four years. Use a plastic case to protect your card’s electronic chip.

Use it correctly!

Once your transit fares are loaded onto the card, simply hold your OPUS card above the reader on the fare box in the bus or on the turnstile in the métro. To validate your fare, place your card against the card reader and hold for a second. You must keep your valid transit fare for the duration of your trip, as it is your proof of payment. The smart card also contains your transfer.

Federal tax creditFederal tax credit
Savings for public transit users

Since 2007 the federal government has offered a non-refundable tax credit on the cost of monthly public transit passes. For 2011, this credit is 15%.

You simply enter the amount spent on your trips between January 1 and December 31, 2011 on line 364 of schedule 1 of your federal income tax form (T1).

You do not need to send any supporting documents with your income tax form, but you must keep your proofs of payment in case the Canada Revenue Agency should ask for them. It is strongly recommended that you make photocopies of your receipts. Some fare dispensers use a heat-sensitive ink that can fade over time making the receipt unreadable.

Examples of the calculation of the tax credit for 2011

Regular-fare monthly pass: $ 72.75 x 12 x 15% = credit of $ 130.95

Reduced-fare monthly pass: $ 41.00 x 12 x 15% = credit of $ 73.80

Click here to learn more. 

Transfers

When you charge tickets onto your OPUS card and use them to pay your transit fare, you have 120 minutes from the time you initially board a transit vehicle to use your transfer. If you have to use more than one STM vehicle (métro or bus) to complete a trip, you simply have to hold your OPUS card above the card reader on the bus fare box or the métro turnstile to validate your transfer. If you use an STM vehicle after the 120 minutes allowed for your transfer, another ticket will be deducted from your OPUS card.

Notice
A transfer does not allow transit users to carry out a return trip or to interrupt their trip and later continue the trip on the same bus route. You cannot take the métro again with a transfer if you used the métro to begin your trip.