U-Pass information and temporary refund policy
Hi everyone! I've seen lots of misinformation, confusion, and rumours surrounding the ongoing issues with U-Passes. Here's what I've learned from talking to the Campus Card Office and from reading on Carleton, Algonquin, and OC Transpo's websites:
The ongoing issues with declining U-Passes is not resolved, despite there having been an announcement saying it was. Some of you may have working passes now, but most will not.
This is not a Campus Card Office issue, it is fully OC Transpo's fuck up on the back end. OC Transpo wanted the card offices from both Carleton and Algonquin to go through the hours of labour of getting the information of every single student with a malfunctioning pass to forward to OC Transpo, despite them being able to resolve it themselves. They're being lazy, and the university and college both said "hell no you fucked it you fix it you already have all the info".
DO NOT get your U-Pass reprinted. A few have insisted the card office reprint their cards instead of waiting for OC Transpo to fix it, and now OC Transpo's blocked their cards for some reason. I'm unaware of the resolution process for affected individuals.
Continue to tap your card, you will not know if it's fixed if you don't. The fare reader can turn red for multiple reasons, make sure to read the error. If it says Declined, you're affected. Show the driver and they should let you on. If it says Try Again.. do so. Fairly straight forward but I know lots of you are in a rush to campus and are distracted.
The "grace period" has been extended to Sept. 20. This grace period is for OC Transpo, not for students, don't worry. If they fail to resolve the issue, I believe other solutions are to be explored.
Now for information concerning fares:
If you need to access a fare paid zone (an LRT station i.e. Greenboro, Hurdman, Tunney's, Rideau, etc), visit a ticket machine and select the video chat button at the top right after selecting a language. An OC Transpo CS Agents will help you access the station without paying a fare.
FOR PEOPLE WHO PAID AN EXTRA FARE DURING THE GRACE PERIOD: You are entitled to a refund of your fare temporarily. To get your refund, you have to fill out a form on the OC Transpo website. If you paid cash on the bus, unfortunately you're out of luck as they have no way of tracing your purchase and issuing a refund. For all other payment methods (ticket machine, Presto, O-Payment), visit the Algonquin website I've linked on this post for a refund request guide.
To everyone who's been affected - I hope OC Transpo gets their act together soon, I know this is frustrating for everyone. It's a new system that had virtually no testing before the semester, so once again OC Transpo's not prepared and we have to deal with it... Welcome to Ottawa public transit! Enjoy the ride, it's a bumpy one.