Montreal students who want to avail themselves of the discount rate for their STM bus passes are subject to a somewhat cumbersome process.
Once a year, they have to get acceptable proof of their student status from their school, then go to the Berri-UQAM or McGill metro stations to get their cards.
But the closer it gets to the Oct. 31 deadline, the longer the lines get -- Concordia engineering student Anthony Boulos has waited two to three hours to get his student Opus card.
Fed up of this annual exercise in tedium, the 21-year-old came up with an idea to eliminate the lines as part of a school assignment.
A true millennial, Boulos’s idea was to do it all online. With the help of Concordia administrators, legal teams and engineers, they came up with a new way to get the cards.
Students log into their online Concordia accounts, click the Opus card link and pay for their cards. In turn, Concordia sends the required information and a photo to the STM, and within a week, the new Opus card arrives in the mail
“I no longer have to wait in line, we bypass the line completely,” Boulos said.
He emailed the STM about his idea and got an answer back from a director there in the same week
The STM likes the idea so much, it has begun using it as a pilot project for Concordia students.
“We want to improve our service, our relation with our clients and it's a great way to do that,” said STM chairman Philippe Schnobb.
The STM says it was looking at a similar idea a few years ago, but couldn’t work out the security concerns. If all goes well, the transit agency will implement it at other schools.
As for Boulos, he's not getting rich off the idea, but chances are this isn't the last you'll be hearing from him.
“Now anywhere I see a lineup it's kind of frustrating for me, I’m like ‘We can really do better than this,’” he said
