Android users rejoice – Montreal’s regional transit authority, the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), has introduced virtual Opus cards as part of its digital transformation. Opus on Android, through the Chrono mobile app, allows transit users to purchase and validate tickets, as well as board buses, metro and the REM with a tap of their smartphone. Until now, users could only buy and transfer virtual transit fares through the Chrono app onto a physical Opus card using an iOS or Android device. The pilot project was first deployed in December of last year. Sylvain Perras, the executive director of digital transformation at the ARTM, said the authority used feedback from more than 20,000 users who took part in the pilot to enhance the new digital transit service. “People find it very simple to use, very convenient. It allows you to do everything on your phone. You don’t need an Opus card, and as we say, it’s harder to forget your phone than forget your Opus card,” he said in an interview. The digital transformation project is part of the ARTM’s $146 million Concerto initiative to modernize the entire 20-year-old ticketing system. Masabi, a U.K.-based firm that has launched virtual fare systems in more than 200 cities, was awarded the contract in the summer of 2025. “It’s a huge transformation. We need to update 12,000 devices, so that’s the big complexity of it. We work with all the operators STM, STL, RTL, EXO, and of course the REM. We also work with the city of Montreal,” Perras explained. “The idea is really to offer a lot of flexibility to the users. People ask for different modes, different options, behaviours evolve. So, our project is really to make a transformation of the user experience, offering different options such as the one we launched today.” Apple users shouldn’t despair, as the ARTM is currently working with the company to bring the feature to iPhones as well. With more than half of all transactions — 16 million — now completed through the Chrono app, the digital transformation is long overdue. Still, physical Opus cards will continue to be offered. “Moving forward in 2027, we’ll also have Interac and Mastercard and Visa [across the metropolitan public transit network,] so this is really a digital transformation to answer best to the needs of the users, offering different options,” Perras said.
