OC Transpo has reported that technical issues affecting fare readers on buses have resulted in a minimum cost of $690,000 to the system. The disclosure was made in a report to the transit committee of the council following a request by Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr for details on the malfunctions of the red oval card readers at bus entrances.
There are approximately 1,600 fare readers installed on buses and Para Transpo vehicles. OC Transpo stated that these readers were operational around 98% of the time between January 2025 and June 2026, with a total of 3,188 reported instances of malfunction during that period.
When asked about the financial impact of these issues, OC Transpo could not provide an exact figure but estimated the loss in fare revenue to be between $690,000 and $960,000 over the 18-month period. The majority of revenue losses occurred in February, March, and April 2026 when fare reader reliability dropped to 93.5%.
The disruptions were attributed to new software implementation, with OC Transpo collaborating with its contractor and provincial agency Metrolinx on system upgrades. The technical problems led to a significant number of fare devices becoming inoperable, but the issue was eventually resolved after technicians reviewed and reinstalled software on approximately 300 fare readers.
Additionally, a separate software glitch earlier this year caused temporary malfunctions in the fare readers, which OC Transpo identified as stemming from repeated rapid taps of U-Pass cards. After a thorough investigation, the root cause was determined, and the defect was promptly rectified.
Pat Scrimgeour, OC Transpo’s director of transit customer systems and planning, informed councillors that the reliability of fare readers has returned to normal levels. Despite this improvement, the report highlighted ongoing 4G connectivity issues. OC Transpo is developing a protocol to hold buses with faulty readers in the garage until new buses are available and the bus fleet’s availability is sufficient.
Efforts are also underway to recoup the lost fare revenue resulting from the software update from Metrolinx.