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Arc Smart Fare System

David A said:
Can they please just get rid of the annoying and useless tap off feature and stop making people pay a flat fee which discourages people from getting cards?

This would solve 90% of the problems with this.
Click to expand...
I don't understand why they even bothered to include the tap off feature. I've only ever seen it used in places where there is a different cost for going a shorter distance. If we actually had zones or distance based fares then it would be useful, otherwise its just useless!
 
Very happy to see plans for the open payment system. I think that will really help make transit more accessible to casual users; visitors, people going out for social events, or even drivers dropping their car off for service.

Removing the barrier of having to buy an arc card should bring in more first-time riders which could lead to some of them becoming regulars.
 
If you're on an Edmonton Transit bus or train, there's absolutely no harm not tapping off. Only scenario I can think of is maybe seeing you have $2.75 left on your card which is perfect as you just need to make the one trip, then you go and tap on and it takes the missing $2.75 fare you forgot on the last trip and it gives you the red screen of no funds.

On the suburban buses that let you off before it crosses municipality boundaries, tapping off makes sure you get charged the appropriate amount.
 
Seems like they only wait about an hour 45 minutes after tapping on now to assume you're off the vehicle and didn't tap off. Prior to this, the missing tap fare was charged the next time you boarded.

Between this and the increased tap speed, I do appreciate the behind the scenes work they've been quietly doing.
 
Oh my kid's school switch from paper monthly passes to loading passes on Arc Cards. $55 a month and my kid is using transit A LOT now so I got it. How it works is that even though his Arc card is on my account, Capital Region Partners is assigned as an agent who loads the pass on there. I had to add a little bit more money on there to close out May and they were also responsible for the Purse add. Then fare type while the pass is active is ETS EPSB Student June Pass rather than Arc Purse. I assume it's the same deal with UPass.
 
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