Your OPUS Card Can Now Be Read By Your Phone & It Might Soon Be Able To Add Fares

For a few months now, Montrealers have been able to scan their OPUS card with their phone to find out how many fares they have left. What's more, you might soon be able to buy your OPUS pass on your phone with the updated Chrono app, according to the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain.

In a statement, Benoît Gendron, director general of the ARTM, said that "as travel needs are currently less predictable, the ARTM and its partners are doing everything to simplify the return of users to safe, flexible and efficient public transport."

The headline new feature for the app is a function that will allow you to scan your OPUS card(s) to know how many fares you have left. At the touch of a button, you can find out if you're almost out of tickets before you even leave your home.

Gendron added that the app "also offers more practical tools that give users more control, such as the ridership level feature, which allows you to plan your trips by considering the level of ridership in all of the bus networks in the Montreal metropolitan area."

One of the most sought-after new features for the Chrono app could also be rolled out to the general public in the wake of an ongoing citizen experiment.

In September, the ARTM announced that transit users were invited to test out a feature that will allow people to purchase and reload an OPUS card using a smartphone.

The hope is that the pilot project, which ended on December 31, will lead to this feature being implemented across the network.