Edmonton advisory board erupted in “virtual applause” after the long-awaited launch of Edmonton’s new tap fare system.

A new payment system —branded as Arc— lets transit users in Edmonton and surrounding areas ditch paper bus passes and finicky transfer slips in favour of a more convenient tap card.

ETS advertises their new 'Arc' tap payment card at a bus stop on Dec. 22, 2022. (Photo by Owen Spillios-Hunter)

Arc was soft launched in Sept. 2021 to post-secondary students in Edmonton. However, Arc recently released for regular adult fares on Nov. 24, 2022.

This kind of technology has been in use in other places in Canada, such as Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, for almost a decade. That’s left some wondering what took Edmonton so long?

Arc Development Challenges

Giselle General, Edmonton Transit Service Advisory Board’s (ETSAB) Chair, said some delays were caused by the pandemic. Pilot testing for the program was supposed to begin in 2020, but the foreign contractor was unable to install the necessary equipment.

Another difficulty the city faced is the regional nature of the Arc card system. Edmonton had to coordinate with transit authorities in St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont, Strathcona County, Spruce Grove and Leduc to ensure all transit users could use the same fare payment method.

Lastly, was the decision to include “fare capping” in the Arc Card system’s launch. “We were told it was more complicated than expected to integrate that in the system,” said General.

Arc implements a fare cap where transit users in Edmonton only pay a fixed maximum daily amount of $10.25 and monthly amount of $100. Other included municipalities don’t have a daily limit. However, their monthly cap differs from Edmonton’s, each other’s and often with different route types.

Uncoordinated rollout

The implementation of regular adult fares also seemed to come without warning. ETSAB wasn’t even informed at its board meeting at the end of October that Arc would be launching just a few weeks later.

While General said there were limitations to what the ETSAB could do as a volunteer board to speed the city up, board members “made it very clear that Edmontonians deserved better.”

Some transit users are still left out

“The tricky thing too is the rollout is not even complete, it’s only for the adult fares. So, seniors and youth with their discounted passes, they can’t access yet,” said General.

For now, only adults and post secondary students can take advantage of the smart fare.

Courtney Smith, a third-year early childhood curriculum studies student at MacEwan University, has been using tap fare since 2021. Smith no longer needs to commute to school since moving downtown but relies on public transit to commute weekly to work. Smith said she is pleased to see Edmonton join the ranks of other Canadian cities.

“I think it’s important that we’re moving forward to at least try and meet the standard,” she said.

Legal and privacy concerns

When requesting an interview with Carrie Hotton-MacDonald –the Edmonton Transit Service Branch manager—the city refused to comment on project delays. In an email cancelling a scheduled meeting minutes before, the city said, “due to legal and privacy considerations regarding Arc and the vendor contract, we are unable to fulfill your request.”

As it is budget deliberation week in Edmonton, Councillor Rutherford —who is the ETSAB advisor— was also unavailable for interview at press time.