Ottawa public transit riders could be saying goodbye to transfers, tickets and passes as early as the end of next year after the city introduces a provincially backed fare card in 2012.

On Wednesday, Coun. Diane Deans, who chairs the transit commission, gave a demonstration of the tap-and-go Presto fare card system, which the city of Toronto also adopted earlier this month.

Presto is already in place in smaller municipalities, including Oakville, and on some of the province's GO Transit lines.

Deans says the benefit of the card is simplicity of use.

"This is really the way of the future and if you go to a Tim Hortons you pay with a Tim Hortons card and if you go to OC Transpo you will pay with one of these," said Deans. "This will be much more convenient."

Users will be able to upload money to the cards either online, by phone or at point-of-sale locations, making lineups for monthly passes a thing of the past, said Deans. Transfers will also no longer be necessary, she said.

The plan is to rollout the cards and card readers beginning in 2012, with the whole system up and running by November 2012.

The new system will cost about $32 million to implement, with the province paying about $8 million of that cost.

Presto executive director Ernie Wallace said whether the card could expand to other services, such allowing Bixi bike rentals, would be a business decision for the city, and not an issue with the technology itself.