That is the problem with the fare machines purchsed by the STM. They bought used equipment from another agency and put them in storage for 5 years before installing them. I was working in an STM garage 2 years ago and noticed an employee fixing a machine. The guarantee on the machines ended in 2006. They started installing them in 2007. Same goes for the Ibus system. With the technology today where you can find your location to within a few feet, is it normal that the Ibus system that was deployed into STM buses has a range of 2 kms. Half the time when riding the bus, which is very little now that I own a car, the GPS system can't keep up. The system announces the stops after we passed the stop.
These new readers they want to install are the same ones that have been installed on RTC, RTL and STL buses since they started accepting OPUS cards. The STTR and Sherbrooke went with the same readers, but decided to go with a better fare system, the same used by the STO in Gatineau.