ACZoom  ·  Archive-2016

New tickets as of 2008.

It costs CAD$7 to buy the OPUS Card. It is a micro-chip based card, and it is necessary if you wish to buy weekly or monthly passes. OPUS can store multiple single tickets on it also.
The à la carte tickets are paper-based with a magnetic strip. These have no additional cost other than amount of fare.

There are some minor disadvantages with the OPUS card for tourists:
1) Unlike other cities (Boston for example), Montreal is charging a fee to buy the OPUS card.
2) The OPUS card has an expiry date - which is four years. This means that every four years a new card has to be obtained. If your old card has not expired for less than 6 months, you can get a replacement for free at the Berri-UQAM office.
3) Unlike many other cities' cards, the OPUS card does not store cash, so it cannot be used for multiple passengers.

For tourists visiting for multiple weeks, there is no choice but to get a OPUS card since the weekly pass (Mon-Sun validity) will not be available in paper-ticket form. Monthly pass is also only available on OPUS.
For tourists who need only 1 or 3 days passes, or only evening/weekend tickets, there is no need to get OPUS card and you can just buy paper tickets.

One problem for US tourists is that credit cards will not work in the automated machines. While the STM web site claims credit cards are allowed, a bunch of cards I tried were all denied. It was later confirmed in a newspaper report that STM has disabled use of non-Canadian credit cards.

On the bus, only coins are accepted, and only single tickets can be bought.

One very good about about STM fares is that they have many weeknight and weekend options, which are all incredible deals for tourists. These don't require a OPUS card, and can be purchased as paper tickets at the same price.

The old Montreal Metro's 3-day Tourist Pass, for use on the metro and bus. Note that this card cannot be used for the new stations now open in Laval, beyond Henri-Bourassa on the Orange line.

This is no longer available since the OPUS card was introduced.

When this was available, you would purchase a pass, mention the date you want the pass to start, and the ticket seller would scratch off the appropriate days. This pass does not allow for automatic entry through the turnstiles - to enter the metro, show the pass to the person in the ticket booth, who will then open the turnstile closest to the ticket booth.

Subway trains run entirely on rubber tires, do not use steel wheels. So, makes for a quieter ride, and probably also makes going up inclines underground easier.

Winter's day, few tourists, great time to be in Montreal! A subway pass allows for travel on all STM buses and the subway.

Metro weekly pass, starts Monday of each week.