News   Apr 03, 2020
From the Editor: A Message to Our Readers
 9.1K     3 
News   Apr 02, 2020
Topping Off March 2020: What's Hot on SkyriseEdmonton
 10K     0 
News   Apr 02, 2020
News Roundup for April 2, 2020
 3.3K     0 

Arc Smart Fare System

EdwardEdm said:
Examples from around the LRT:
View attachment 409310
Central East Concourse.

View attachment 409305
Churchill South Concourse- 1 more card reader which has a fence next to it. Commented by another person in another thread that there was only 1 reader at Churchill. Clearly, that's not the case. 2 pairs of readers, and no doubt more to come when the ticket validators are replaced. However, with the one reader partially blocked, right now this could be a bit less convenient.
View attachment 409306View attachment 409307
Belvedere, first the original fare collection area with 2 readers replacing ticket validators, and the second image shows 2 more readers that were added in approaching from the bus terminal side. There are 2 more readers that were added on the side coming from the main park and ride lot.

View attachment 409309
Additional readers added in on surface level entrance.

View attachment 409308
Grandin north concourse. Lots of readers for a quieter station.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing all those pictures, this is really nice to see. I'm not the one who claimed that Churchill only has one scanner, but nonetheless this is something I'm very happy to be wrong about.
 
I sent an email to the ARC pilot manager about a month ago to express some of my frustrations with the tapper locations. I missed my chance to say anything during the feedback period, but they said to send future gripes to this email arcprogrammanager@edmonton.ca, so I did. I actually got a reply back the other day, with one tidbit of potentially useful info.

What I emailed to them:
Hello,

I didn't end up using transit much during the actual Pilot period, but I've used it more since, so this seems to be the only way to provide feedback now?

I've got a very big concern I'd like to address.
This is coming from experience using tap cards in other Jurisdictions [Vancouver, Toronto, London (UK)]

The tap locations for the LRT stations I've used are horrific. Honestly it really messes me up, the tap locations are few, often in the middle of the platform, and not located near the entrances/exits reliably. This means I need to go out of my way to tap. This is especially problematic for tapping off, because I've gotten off the train, I need to leave, but instead I need to detour to a tap machine - and you expect every single transit rider to do this reliably during rush hour? It's not going to work. At a bare minimum there needs to be a bank of tap machines at the entrance/exit of the stations/platforms so that people can queue and tap as they enter and exit the transit space. The other cities that I've used tap cards also had fare gates on their train systems, which massively simplified the use of tap cards - you can't get onto the platform without tapping, and you can't get off the platform without tapping (at least in Vancouver). This means there's no opportunity for you to mess it up.

I really just want fare gates, that would make this system so much easier and more seamless. Vancouver brought in their fare gates with the introduction of their Compass card system and it made the transition so much more straightforward. I was living there and using transit regularly during the transition period, and it was much better than what I'm seeing with the Arc system here.

Thank you for your time,
Click to expand...

How they replied to me:
My apologies for the delay in responding.

Your feedback is very important and this is the best way to send it in. Going forward this email is going to be better monitored.

As Arc is being rolled out in phases, we had to keep the old ticket validators in place for passengers who aren't using Arc. Once we're fully transitioned, these old validators will be replaced with new Arc ones - increasing the number available at each location. If after all the validators are replaced we find that we have gaps, we'll plan to relocate or add new ones.

At this time, I'm not aware of any plans to install fare gates, but that could always be a possibility in the future.

Please continue to send us your feedback, as your input will be invaluable in making sure the system works for as many people as possible.
Click to expand...

So there will be a few more tap locations at least.... lol
 
JuliallThat said:
I sent an email to the ARC pilot manager about a month ago to express some of my frustrations with the tapper locations. I missed my chance to say anything during the feedback period, but they said to send future gripes to this email arcprogrammanager@edmonton.ca, so I did. I actually got a reply back the other day, with one tidbit of potentially useful info.

What I emailed to them:


How they replied to me:


So there will be a few more tap locations at least.... lol
Click to expand...
Ah, so the validator podiums will be repurposed for scanners — or at least they'll use the same spots. That's very good to know, thanks for sharing the response!
 
So recently I’ve been wondering when Arc would finally get out of beta testing when this popped up in my memories. It took almost 2 years of beta testing Metro Vancouver’s Translink to publicly launch Compass Card. It finally rolled out summer of 2015.

EE92FFD8-D1AC-41D2-8ADE-476736DFB225.jpeg
 
Oh yea and the gong show of if one pays a cash fare on the bus, they have to buy a new cash fare on Skytrain since the bus dispenses tickets that don't have NFC required at the fare gates. Thankfully contactless credit card payment is transferrable to Skytrain. Or better yet, get a Compass card and pay the stored value rate.

One could attempt to forego Skytrain and take the bus to avoid paying zone fares but there are very few bus routes that run parallel to Skytrain and none of them cross the Fraser River.

One thing I love about Arc over Compass is the capped day/month fares. Day and monthly passes have to be loaded onto Compass before use AND they take about 20 minutes to load onto your card which I unfortunately found out the hard way. Or rather I was out an extra $2.50 for the day.

Oh, I had previously erroneously mentioned before that one does not have to tap off Arc cards after they reach their cap which is incorrect. Not tapping off Arc Card means there's a compensation fare and those fares DO NOT count towards the monthly cap.
 
BrettB said:
Just watching the Executive Committee meeting, and in response to questions, city administration said they should be ready for a full rollout of the ARC system by April
Click to expand...
Did they clarify whether that just includes adult fares, or is that for the entire fare structure being uploaded?
 
dkazzed said:
Oh, I had previously erroneously mentioned before that one does not have to tap off Arc cards after they reach their cap which is incorrect. Not tapping off Arc Card means there's a compensation fare and those fares DO NOT count towards the monthly cap.
Click to expand...

That was changed so that compensation fares now count towards your cap, and the compensation fare is now $0. This is less of a concern these days, but back when the readers were turning on and off when the doors opened and closed, it was not uncommon to have readers not working and so by not fault of your own, you would go to exit, you couldn't tap off, and you were changed $3 that didn't count towards your cap. Daily or monthly.
Incidentally, I should have had a compensation fare today. It occurred on my first bus. Driver opened the doors at a stop light, which was convenient, so a bunch of bus bailed. I tapped, but, not long enough apparently for it to register. Didn't want to risk holding up the bus if the light turned green so left it. Boarded the LRT, and eventually, once the system sorted itself out (it just shows your taps for a period of time until if figures out what to charge you) it shows an entry of "Purse Missing Tap Fare" and my $3.00 payment which is showing as part of my daily and monthly cap.
 
Arc Cards can now be reloaded at fare vending machines, but they are not for sale yet.

I tried two machines: One at University, and the other at Corona. Both worked fine.

At University, I selected the $5 option and paid with my debit card.
Arc1.jpgArc2.jpgArc3.jpgArc4.jpgArc5.jpg


At Corona, I decided to try out the "flex top-up", which ended up just letting me enter a custom amount. I was also able to pay using Google Pay, and the transaction name included the specific station where the fare vending machine was located.
Arc6.jpgArc7.jpgArc9.jpg


My receipts from both transactions - looks like the printers are slightly misaligned, but it's not a major issue.
Arc8.jpg
 
CplKlinger said:
Arc Cards can now be reloaded at fare vending machines, but they are not for sale yet.

I tried two machines: One at University, and the other at Corona. Both worked fine.

At University, I selected the $5 option and paid with my debit card.
View attachment 425575View attachment 425574View attachment 425573View attachment 425572View attachment 425571


At Corona, I decided to try out the "flex top-up", which ended up just letting me enter a custom amount. I was also able to pay using Google Pay, and the transaction name included the specific station where the fare vending machine was located.
View attachment 425570View attachment 425569View attachment 425567


My receipts from both transactions - looks like the printers are slightly misaligned, but it's not a major issue.
View attachment 425568
Click to expand...
Man, I hope that isn't the final UI. Looks 20 years old.
 
I was just in Toronto and got a PRESTO card. When you tap it, it shows you how much balance you have left and if a tap is a transfer or counted as a new ride. I didn't think about that back when the feedback portal was open, but would add that now. I also wonder what other simple things like this I haven't thought about!

Also, I noticed that the Valley Line LRT only has ARC machines. If it weren't delayed, would ETS simply have not worried about fare verification on the Valley Line? (I also think public transit should be free, but that's a different matter.)
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top