Ryerson is changing the way money can be loaded on to OneCards.
Instead of machines, there will be a website to deposit funds.
“Ryerson is looking to create an online deposit application that would eventually eliminate the need for machines on campus,” Darcy Flynn, manager of Ryerson’s OneCard Office, said.
The new system would function similar to Starbucks cards.
Students will be able to add funds to their OneCard account and check past transactions.
There is also a feature for students’ parents to have access to their OneCard account, to add funds.
The current process to add funds to a OneCard is by phoning the OneCard office, going into the office or using cash at one of the 12 machines across campus.
The machines, however, do not accept credit or debit cards.
Kate Kassem, a first-year public health student, tells the Ryersonian she’s frustrated with the OneCard machines on campus.
Kassem and her friend tried to print a document at the library, but were unable to do so because of the OneCard machine.
“It’s just more difficult than it needs to be,” Kassem said.
“There are machines at the library, but we only had coins and the machine only takes bills. It was just such a hassle trying to figure out a way to add credit — and all I needed was just to print a couple pages, which is a couple cents.”
Kassem ended up going to the printing centre in the students’ centre to bypass the OneCard machines.
Currently, McGill University and Wilfrid Laurier allow students to add funds digitally to their OneCard account.
The move for Ryerson to go digital will be a lengthy process to ensure Ryerson meets the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
According to Flynn, to comply with the PCI DSS, all transaction companies must be certified, personal information must be limited and the network security must follow Ryerson standards to minimize risk of information breach.
During the process of creating a digital platform for OneCard, current machines will be altered to accept cards.
“As the online application would be new to campus, we would still have machines, but they would be phased out over time … We hope to have a select number of machines to have the ability to accept cards during the transitionary period,” Flynn said.
Ryerson’s OneCard Office aims to have the digital deposit system ready by fall 2017.