CplKlinger
Senior Member
The UofA is distributing Arc Cards starting Monday, September 13th!
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Arc Smart Fare System
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
CplKlinger
Senior Member
Guess who was first in line for the Arc Cards? I can wait until this beauty is activated and I can try it out!
Aaron_Lloyd
Active Member
I'm jealous!
The_Cat
Senior Member
Maybe it can be combined with a vaccination passport! 
thommyjo
Senior Member
Here's hoping for a future integration with bike share like many european cities have!
CplKlinger
Senior Member
Here's my Arc Card in action. Now, for some general thoughts.
First, the rollout was defined by some pretty big bugs, as is to be expected with any tech pilot. First, the UAlberta UPass website wouldn't let me register my card. I tried phoning the number on the card, but the call centre isn't open yet; there's just a voicemail that directs UPass holders to contact their institutions for support. Turns out, the UofA's tech team was already on the case about this, because there was an issue facing multiple cards like mine. What did these cards have in common? Their numbers had the audacity to begin with 0, which the system didn't appreciate. After a couple of hours, I could register my card.
But wait, there's more! Since anyone can claim that their Arc Card needs UPass status, the cards need to be validated after they're registered. The school website says that a card should be ready to go the day after it's registered. This was delayed though, and the first cards to get handed out (like mine) took a couple of days to activate. I'm not sure if they've caught up, or if people getting their cards today will face similar delays. It's not a huge deal, but noteworthy nonetheless.
Lastly, the tap is pretty quick as you can see in the video, and I appreciate that the card readers have both visual and audio feedback (boop!). No major complaints here. However, I do wish that the scanners had better range, because I can see backlogs forming since you basically need to touch your card against the reader for it to register. But I'm sure most people will adjust to this, so I think it's preferable to having scanners that have better range, but take longer to process a tap.
Overall, I think this is going pretty good so far. The issues I faced at first got addressed quickly, and I appreciate that they at least updated the call centre voicemail to direct us to our insitutions. (Last time I tried calling that number, there was no voicemail; it just kept ringing.) There's room for improvement for sure, but that's the case for anything. Although the 600-person pilot didn't go ahead, this is a good alternative. Not only do they have a pool of 70,000-odd UPass holders to draw data and feedback from, but unlike fare-paying riders, we won't be hooped if something goes wrong because we have our OneCards to fall back on.
First, the rollout was defined by some pretty big bugs, as is to be expected with any tech pilot. First, the UAlberta UPass website wouldn't let me register my card. I tried phoning the number on the card, but the call centre isn't open yet; there's just a voicemail that directs UPass holders to contact their institutions for support. Turns out, the UofA's tech team was already on the case about this, because there was an issue facing multiple cards like mine. What did these cards have in common? Their numbers had the audacity to begin with 0, which the system didn't appreciate. After a couple of hours, I could register my card.
But wait, there's more! Since anyone can claim that their Arc Card needs UPass status, the cards need to be validated after they're registered. The school website says that a card should be ready to go the day after it's registered. This was delayed though, and the first cards to get handed out (like mine) took a couple of days to activate. I'm not sure if they've caught up, or if people getting their cards today will face similar delays. It's not a huge deal, but noteworthy nonetheless.
Lastly, the tap is pretty quick as you can see in the video, and I appreciate that the card readers have both visual and audio feedback (boop!). No major complaints here. However, I do wish that the scanners had better range, because I can see backlogs forming since you basically need to touch your card against the reader for it to register. But I'm sure most people will adjust to this, so I think it's preferable to having scanners that have better range, but take longer to process a tap.
Overall, I think this is going pretty good so far. The issues I faced at first got addressed quickly, and I appreciate that they at least updated the call centre voicemail to direct us to our insitutions. (Last time I tried calling that number, there was no voicemail; it just kept ringing.) There's room for improvement for sure, but that's the case for anything. Although the 600-person pilot didn't go ahead, this is a good alternative. Not only do they have a pool of 70,000-odd UPass holders to draw data and feedback from, but unlike fare-paying riders, we won't be hooped if something goes wrong because we have our OneCards to fall back on.
DutchBoy
Active Member
This is partly due to NFC technology and also keeping verification streamlined. I can't think of any tap transit passes that don't work like this (though, have only used London's Oyster, Dutch OV-Chipkaart, and a few others as a tourist). Hopefully we will just get used to it
cliffapotamus
Active Member
thanks for the update! I'm super jealous you already have one of these bad boys.
I'll tag onto @DutchBoy's comment with an observation. I've had a little bit of experience with the oyster card and a few similar tap-metro-card systems, but by far the place i've had to deal with this kind of NFC (or nfc-esque, idk what they use) tech most often is at Disneyworld. They use magicbands and tap cards for access everywhere, including all parks, hotel rooms, and other attractions. Given the giant crowds they have at the parks, as well as a huge need to appear efficient, they have a few design tricks to get everyone access to one of the readers for something ,without creating large bottlenecks. At park gates and other large openings (think platform entrances for LRT) they have readers arrayed in Vs of 4, so that 4 people can scan at once, and the second reader is visible to oncoming traffic, even if the first is in use. they also place readers in places where your hand would naturally want to tap, near the ends of railings and such. Lastly, most importantly, the readers are EVERYWHERE, impossible to miss.
Looking at LRT specifically, our platforms do not have remotely enough readers for the kind of traffic they receive, and it will be inconvenient for people to tap them. I think there's going to be a lot of people not bothering to tap, unless we start adding a lot more readers. I don't think we need turnstiles or anything for this, but i have doubts about the current setup.
I'll tag onto @DutchBoy's comment with an observation. I've had a little bit of experience with the oyster card and a few similar tap-metro-card systems, but by far the place i've had to deal with this kind of NFC (or nfc-esque, idk what they use) tech most often is at Disneyworld. They use magicbands and tap cards for access everywhere, including all parks, hotel rooms, and other attractions. Given the giant crowds they have at the parks, as well as a huge need to appear efficient, they have a few design tricks to get everyone access to one of the readers for something ,without creating large bottlenecks. At park gates and other large openings (think platform entrances for LRT) they have readers arrayed in Vs of 4, so that 4 people can scan at once, and the second reader is visible to oncoming traffic, even if the first is in use. they also place readers in places where your hand would naturally want to tap, near the ends of railings and such. Lastly, most importantly, the readers are EVERYWHERE, impossible to miss.
Looking at LRT specifically, our platforms do not have remotely enough readers for the kind of traffic they receive, and it will be inconvenient for people to tap them. I think there's going to be a lot of people not bothering to tap, unless we start adding a lot more readers. I don't think we need turnstiles or anything for this, but i have doubts about the current setup.
DutchBoy
Active Member
Agreed – this is the real answer. Spaced out tap machines in convenient locations makes a big difference! We're not quite there yet.
Gronk!
Senior Member
All I know is that I will refuse to ride public transit until ETS finally enters the 21st century and implements the smart card system. Just let me know when that's done.
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archited
Senior Member
^^^^ I'll set your alarm for 2030.
CplKlinger
Senior Member
The vending machines obviously still say that cards and tickets aren't for sale, but I decided to tap my card against the reader on one to see what would happen. I also took some pictures of what it shows UPass users.
The tap was a bit laggy. Also, notice how the green border around the reader disappears once you're 'logged in'.
The tap was a bit laggy. Also, notice how the green border around the reader disappears once you're 'logged in'.
IanO
Superstar
It's such a tease and confusing as F for out of in and out towners.
monrose
New Member
It's been almost a month since the ARC cards were distributed to university students for the pilot program, and I'm curious to see what your thoughts are so far? Here are mine:
-I think one of the biggest issues have been laggy readers, especially on busses. It's probably takes a second after you've tapped your card for it to beep, and this delay could be cost lots of time if there's a bunch of people trying to get on and off the bus at the same time with the card. Readers at LRT stations are really fast though.
-I've had issues with readers not working, especially when exiting a bus. If the exit reader doesn't work, there should be a way to end the ride via phone app if your phone detects that you are not on a bus/train. I understand the program is in its infancy but hopefully the readers should be fixed of bugs when ARC becomes available to the masses.
-Many people I've talked to still don't really understand how the card works. I'd like to see more signage about how it works in the next phases of the program.
-Does anyone know if you can exit through tapping on the front of the bus? I like to bring my bike on the bus, and I usually exit through the front to let the driver know that I'm taking my bike off at the next stop. I'd hate for the bus to take off with my bike just because I exited through the back.
-Overall, the only thing that really annoys me is the reader lag. Everything else is going smoothly so far. I hope they fix it in the next phases!
-I think one of the biggest issues have been laggy readers, especially on busses. It's probably takes a second after you've tapped your card for it to beep, and this delay could be cost lots of time if there's a bunch of people trying to get on and off the bus at the same time with the card. Readers at LRT stations are really fast though.
-I've had issues with readers not working, especially when exiting a bus. If the exit reader doesn't work, there should be a way to end the ride via phone app if your phone detects that you are not on a bus/train. I understand the program is in its infancy but hopefully the readers should be fixed of bugs when ARC becomes available to the masses.
-Many people I've talked to still don't really understand how the card works. I'd like to see more signage about how it works in the next phases of the program.
-Does anyone know if you can exit through tapping on the front of the bus? I like to bring my bike on the bus, and I usually exit through the front to let the driver know that I'm taking my bike off at the next stop. I'd hate for the bus to take off with my bike just because I exited through the back.
-Overall, the only thing that really annoys me is the reader lag. Everything else is going smoothly so far. I hope they fix it in the next phases!
CplKlinger
Senior Member
For a pilot, I think it's going pretty well so far. The machines at the LRT stations are nice and quick as you say, although for some reason I can keep my Arc Card in my wallet sleeve to tap with those machine, whereas I must take my card out of my wallet to tap on and off the bus. I'm guessing they're the same machines, so I wonder why the discrepancy is there. Aside from that, my one major complaint is that a number of machines are broken. It started with a couple of scanners at the UofA station which said that rejected the cards, even if some other scanners in that same station accepted those cards. Now more than half of the scanners at the UofA station are affected, as well as many machines at other LRT stations (and I hear some buses as well). At the UofA station, the broken machines are also the one in the most prominent spots, so the vast majority of taps at that station aren't going through right now. I called 311 about it yesterday and they logged my issue, so at least they know about it now!
On another note, the new fare vending machine at Health Sciences has an Arc sign now; here's an up-close shot of what it looks like.
On another note, the new fare vending machine at Health Sciences has an Arc sign now; here's an up-close shot of what it looks like.
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