New AC card arrives with long lines and transit troubles
Johnny Woolsey stepped out of the AC Card Service Centre on Sept. 5 and breathed a sigh of relief. The long journey to have his new AC Card issued had ended and his first semester as a student in the music, media and film foundations program could begin.
“Oh man, this has been a whole process,” said Woolsey. “I’ve been having a terrible time. I’ve been here three days in a row and new hurdles just kept happening.”
Woolsey said he was unable to submit a photo prior to getting in line for the AC Card due to technical issues, and for that reason, was removed from the line multiple times over the past three days.
“Algonquin College, the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and the City of Ottawa have been working together for the past two years to eliminate the blue U-Pass card and merge it onto each institution’s student card,” said Roch Lafond, Algonquin College’s manager of Parking, Lockers and Card Services.
The new card will be automatically activated at the start of the winter term and grant students access to many campus services, including borrowing library books and using campus printing services.
Woolsey said he had a frustrating experience when members of staff tasked with managing the long lines gave him conflicting instructions. That miscommunication resulted in confusion and hours of standing in line waiting for his AC Card.
“Just now, I got my meal plan,” said Woolsey. “I’ve had to sustain myself off of crumbs basically for a couple of days now.”
In the future, students may not even need a card at all.
“We are always looking to improve our services and have started discussions on moving to a digital card,” said Lafond. “We are in the exploratory phase with this idea.”
Students were vocal about their frustrations with the long lines that sometimes reached past the length of the D-building Marketplace cafeteria.
Some students even reported having issues accessing OC Transpo with their new AC Card.
Justine Markhauser, a Level 1 student in the esthetician program, said her new card had not worked as of Sept. 5, despite seeking assistance from the card services counter in E-building.
She said she has been met with hostility from some bus drivers.
“Some of them have been nice and accommodating. And then some of them were just the opposite,” said Markhauser. “They said things like, ‘Why isn’t it working? I can’t let you on this bus if you can’t pay.'”
Lafond said the number of technological integrations implemented made this project highly complex. The OC Transpo technical team is working to solve the validation issues.
“OC Transpo has identified the underlying cause of the validation issue and is now working on an update,” said Lafond. “This update will fix the ‘Not activated’ error message that some students are seeing when trying to board OC Transpo routes.”
Not all students experienced the new card headaches.
Lathen Trojana, a Level 1 student in the music, media and film foundations program, said it could not have been easier to pick up his new AC Card.
“I had kind of the opposite end of the stick,” said Trojana. “I found out that if you submit a photo before Aug. 27, once you show up the card will be ready. So my experience was kind of good, especially in comparison.”
