Controversial OPUS card technology kept under wraps in Quebec City

Commuters in Quebec City are asking why they were never told about the $7.6-million OPUS card-charging technology that could have saved them from time-consuming waits to renew their bus passes.

The arrival of the controversial $17 card reader in May 2016, which allows people to add tickets or buy monthly bus passes for 17 different transit companies, was posted on Facebook and Twitter, but it wasn't advertised inside buses or in the newspaper.

"I think this a really big problem," said Alex Savard, a Quebec City woman, when asked about the lack of information.

"They want to sell this to us, it cost a lot of money, and they don't tell us about it?"

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Savard and several dozen other commuters told CBC News they had no idea the charger existed, much less that it was available.

She said she would be buying it and sharing the $17 cost with friends, since the reader can charge several cards.

While Montreal's public transit authority (STM) launched the reader with a splash in July 2015, Quebec City's Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC) relied on its website and social media to introduce the product.

The STM was in charge of the reader's development, but it shared the cost with 16 other municipalities, the provincial government and the federal government through the Federal Gas Tax fund.

None of those bodies was able to provide a detailed budget.

Smartphone project in the works

The RTC refused to grant CBC News an interview about its approach to marketing the product.

 "The RTC does not wish to comment further because the information request has been fulfilled and all pertinent information for its clients are available on the website," spokesperson Julie Drolet said in an email.

In September, the transit authority announced it will be spending $734,000 for a pilot project for people to buy fares from a smartphone.

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The STM also refused to speak with CBC News about the technology.

It has sold more than 23,000 of the readers, meaning 3.8 per cent of commuters bought one.

In Quebec City, 1,255 are in use.

Another Quebec City commuter, Rachel de la Durantaye, said she would have liked to know about the reader sooner because she has waited up to two hours for a monthly bus pass at the dedicated RTC kiosk.

"It would be so much easier and accessible than having to go somewhere and wait in endless lineups," de la Durantaye said.

Sorin Paul Genete, for his part, said the charger should have been advertised at Laval University, especially because so much public money was spent in the development of the technology.

"That's quite an expensive piece of technology, all the work that's gone into it, and this is the first time I've ever seen this," he said.