OC Transpo announced Monday it will stop fining riders for not writing down their rider identification numbers on their monthly bus pass. Previously, riders were fined $125 immediately for failing to write their numbers down and it was highly unpopular among transit users.
Now, OC Transpo inspectors will give passengers a chance to prove the pass they’re using is legitimate.
“It's pretty good for people like me, I forget,” said Elisa St-Jean. “You told me and I never realized I never wrote it, that's the thing.”
Ottawa Councillor Diane Deans said one excuse riders used as to why they didn’t write their number down was because they didn’t have a pen. So, instead of OC Transpo inspectors giving riders an immediate fine, they're giving them a pen and the opportunity to write down their number on their pass.
As long as the number matches the photo ID, the rider can continue their trip with no fine.
Deans said the move is meant to improve “customer experience and this is something that has been ongoing and that we have had some complaints about."
She said over the past six years which saw more than 460 million riders using OC Transpo, there have been 220 complaints about the fine policy.
The news comes as a relief to some.
“I will be relieved to not have to pay… in the case I was caught without having filled in the number but in reality I don't think it's a big deal with current regulation as it stands,” said Kris Bergmann.
Others, like St-Jean, know someone who has had to pay up.
“She didn't know that you had to write it, like I didn't actually read under it,” she said of a friend. “But she didn't know that you had to write it and then she got a fine for it and she wasn't very happy about it."
With files from CTV Ottawa’s Katie Griffin
