Marché Aux Puces…
Sorry, got that one wrong. It’s OPUS… yeah. The new chip card to take the city bus/metro in Montreal.
Since July 1st, there are little blue people in the metro stations (usually three for every metro station) directing traffic. These little people wear bright blue STM shirts so we can’t miss them. It even says “information” on their shirts.
The first little blue person I talked to couldn’t tell me about the personal information issue, she directed me to the STM web site. How nice to have people there to inform me ABOUT THEIR WEB SITE. How useful.
Will my personal data be kept confidential ?
Every security measure will be taken to uphold the confidentiality standards that govern all public transit authorities.
Wow. How informative. EVERY measure will be taken… Doesn’t say what information it will hold. ATM card info? PIN number info? Personal address? Full name and age? Who knows.
My plan, since I’m not a student and not allowed a reduction of any kind, is to NEVER volonteer any info. True, if my card gets lost or stolen, I’ll never see it again. Big deal.
Basically, the OPUS card only costs 4 bucks. 4 bucks plus the price of a monthly pass. I will keep this card til the end of times and just reload it month after month.
Hopefully, before long the little useless blue people will be gone and the lines to pay will also be gone.
Now if only we could have some standing room in the metro between 4:30 and 6:30 PM, that would be great!
I’ll try to get you a picture. Taking the metro is no fun at rush hour, even if it’s nowhere close to Japan’s situation.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The monthly bus pass is tax deductable. The french version of the site mentions this:
Y aura-t-il encore un crédit d’impôt accordé à l’achat de titre mensuel?
Oui. Lorsque vous chargez votre carte OPUS d’un titre mensuel, un reçu sera émis. Ce reçu pourra être utilisé dans votre déclaration de revenus pour obtenir un crédit d’impôt; conservez-le.
You get a receipt when you recharge/reload your OPUS card. Keep it, put it in your tax return.