OPUS grace period, only if you don’t have any tickets
Q: Your article about monthly OPUS purchases ( Montreal Gazette, Feb. 2) was very interesting. I have a question about the grace period. If I have, for example, a January pass on my OPUS as well as four tickets and I get on a bus on February 1 ( the day of grace), will the OPUS reader use one of my tickets or will it use my January pass?
Paul Berry, Montreal
A: The article in question dealt with the policy in place for OPUS monthly passes, and explained that on the first day of every month, riders can use their passes from the previous month. That is done to help avoid long lineups at OPUS recharge machines and at stores where they can be refilled.
Amélie Régis, a spokesperson for the Société de transport de Montréal, said this grace period only applies to riders who don’t already have tickets loaded onto their OPUS cards. In other words, if you only ever buy bus passes, you will be able to use your January bus pass on Feb. 1. If, how- ever, you buy a January bus pass, but had previously bought tickets for single rides and not used them, they will be deducted from your card on Feb. 1.
The STM is working to make it easier to recharge OPUS passes. The agency is currently testing a system that will allow users to buy their monthly passes online. They will have to purchase a reader to allow their cards to be read by a computer. Régis said the system will be in place some time this year.
Q: I am a senior living near the St- Michel métro station. The escalator to street level at the west entrance has been out of order since mid- August. When I first asked an employee about it, I was told that it would be repaired at the end of September, because the parts would not be available earlier. Then the escalator going down to the train stopped working, too. There are signs posted on both of them that say when they will be back in use, so first it was Oct. 30, then Dec. 31, Jan. 31, you get the idea. The latest dates read March 31 for the up one and sometime in April for the other. We just don’t believe it anymore. There are many seniors in this area, including three residences. How can the STM justify such lack of service, considering also that the price of tickets has gone up in the new year?
Rosanna Virgona, Montreal
A: Amélie Régis of the Société de transport de Montréal said the problem with the agency’s escalators is that they are all from the same era, and are all breaking down at the same time. The STM has 296 escalators in its stations, and when the older ones break down, it is difficult to find parts for them because of their age. Régis said the escalator at the St- Michel station is due to be repaired by April, and she said the agency is aware this can cause inconveniences. She can only apologize for the delay. Riders can keep track of certain escalator breakdowns on the STM’s site.
Squeaky Wheels update
In the Dec. 29 edition, we asked Transport Quebec spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun about the new $ 13 million reserved lane on Highway 20 eastbound between Bouchard Ave. in Dorval and 10th Ave in Lachine. Notre-Dame- de-Grâce resident Katrina Godfrey wrote to say she found the signs confusing, and said that the lane markers were not clear. Since that time, it appears several of the painted lines faded away from the highway, causing even more confusion. On Monday and Tuesday of last week, there were two accidents in that area.
The transport department put out a fresh coat of paint on Tuesday morning. When asked whether the confusing signs and faded paint had contributed to the accidents, Benoît Lachance, a spokesperson for the transport department, said he did not know. Lachance said the transport department would only do a temporary paint job, and that it would put down more permanent paint after the snow melts and conditions are optimal for repainting lane markings.