Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Ottawa

OC Transpo now accepting debit tap on buses, LRT

Last year, OC Transpo let users pay by tapping a credit card or mobile wallet. Now, you can also use your debit card.

System automatically charges the rider for an adult fare

Gabrielle Huston · CBC News ·
A person taps a credit card on a red pay station on a bus.
OC Transpo users can now use credit cards and mobile wallets to pay for adult fares at all LRT gates and on all of Ottawa's buses. Bus riders can tap their cards and phones on red pay stations like the one pictured here. (Melanie Campeau/CBC)

OC Transpo customers can now pay for fares by tapping a debit card when they get on a bus or pass the gates at an LRT station.

Last September, OC Transpo riders could start tapping their credit card or a mobile wallet (if it had a credit card or Presto card attached) to pay their bus fare. However, debit cards were excluded until now.

The system, called O-Payment, automatically charges a rider an adult fare ($3.80) and caps the fare at the price for a daily or monthly pass.

No matter how many rides you take a day, you won't be charged more than the cost of a day pass, $11.75, provided you use the same payment method for all trips. 

The same is true each month; you won't be charged more than the amount of a monthly $128.75 pass.

The new system is separate from Presto, so users can track their payments with a credit or debit card on the O-Payment website.

But it does not cover Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) buses, discounted fares and monthly passes. OC Transpo said in a statement it recommends those riders still use their Presto cards. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabrielle Huston

Gabrielle is an Ottawa-based journalist with eclectic interests. She's spoken to video game developers, city councillors, neuroscientists and small business owners alike. Reach out to her for any reason at gabrielle.huston@cbc.ca.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices·About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications·Submit a news tip·

Related Stories