Second payment system in three years always part of plan, ETS head says

The long process that Edmonton Transit Service has used to arrive at offering riders machines that allow tap-to-pay at LRT stations, transit centres, and on buses was by design, branch manager Carrie Hotton-MacDonald told Taproot.

As of November, Vix Technology Assure machines that offer so-called "open" payment by debit and credit cards, as well as smartphones, began to replace the previous Vix I-Val machines, installed in 2019 and rolled out system-wide in 2022. The I-Val machines allowed so-called "closed" payments only with the Arc card. Australia-based Vix launched the newer Assure machines in 2021. Today, there are roughly 3,350 Arc validators on buses and 260 at LRT stations across the regional Arc network, which includes Edmonton, St. Albert, Strathcona County, Spruce Grove, Beaumont, and Fort Saskatchewan. A representative for ETS told Taproot that Leduc Transit, which services both the city and the county, will join the fold in the future.

Hotton-MacDonald told Taproot the $31.4 million deal with Vix, signed in 2017, purposely included two types of machines, but that specific details on costs are confidential. "You have to think of it differently," she said, when asked why the city would roll out two machines instead of one. "We didn't buy two (fare validator machines), we bought one, and then (Vix Technology is) upgrading them at no charge to us, with a more modern version of their equipment that they invested in."

City manager Eddie Robar recently appeared on Episode 291 of Speaking Municipally, where co-host Mack Male asked him about the two machines. "I think the average Edmontonian sees that news story and they say, 'Why didn't we just install those (new) readers in the first place?'" Male said.

Robar echoed Hotton-MacDonald's points in response. "(W)e didn't pay any more for that," he said. "That was a part of the contract from day one." He added that card-reading technology is changing quickly. "So you know, our ability to, on the onset of this program … those readers weren't available to us, but we knew they would be in about a year, a year and a half's time. I know it seems like … we just put them in and we're taking them out, but they've been there for almost two years now."

As Taproot reported in 2022, Edmonton's business case for a smart fare for transit dates back to 2003. Roughly $30 million was allocated to the concept nine years later, in 2012, to move it forward. The $31.4-million contract with Vix was awarded in 2017, and is for 15 years for implementation and operation of the system. The first installation of the I-Val technology happened in 2019, though was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its rollout was pushed forward into 2022.

Before and after Arc arrived system-wide in 2022, critics shared frustration that tap-to-pay features were not offered immediately but instead were phased in. Transit payment technology using a dedicated card dates back to the 1990s, with Seoul and Hong Kong offering it first; tap-to-pay features, meanwhile, have been available on Vancouver's transit system since 2018, in Toronto since 2023, and in the United Kingdom since 2014.

The phased rollout of Arc payments before tap-to-pay payments was detailed in a 2022 annual service plan report from ETS.

Hotton-MacDonald said two versions of validators were in the Vix contract because ETS wanted to make sure each rider group could be "really well socialized" to the system by a phased rollout rather than "trying to put everybody through" at once. "We knew that would be really overwhelming for our riders," she said. "For us, we're very comfortable with technology, and maybe we could have been doing this from the beginning, but we have very diverse riders," she said. "If you have, let's say, newcomers and youth and seniors and persons with disabilities and others that aren't as comfortable (with technology), it takes them a little bit longer. We were trying to be thoughtful in the implementation."

Hotton-MacDonald said she is hopeful that the open-payment machines will replace existing validators across the network within the first six months of 2025. Once that's done, Vix will take back the I-Val machines, she said.

In early January, Coun. Michael Janz shared enthusiasm about the new open-payment machines. "It's long overdue. I'm excited because I think it'll make it a lot easier for people to do the impulse transit trip," Janz told Postmedia.

Edmonton Transit discontinued sales of paper transit fares in November. With open payment coming in, cash and Arc cards won't go away, Hotton-MacDonald said. Before open payment goes system-wide, the new machines will be tested with ETS staff, financial partners, and riders. Hotton-MacDonald said testing will likely begin in the next couple of weeks.

While the goal is for the machines to be in widespread usage in the first half of 2025, Hotton-MacDonald said the rollout will take as long as needed. "I don't want (anyone) to feel like I'm going to rush it. If we get inundated with hundreds and hundreds of pieces of feedback, we're going to work through that."

Hotton-MacDonald and her team will present the annual ETS service plan during a March 2 event at City Hall organized by Janz. The event includes the presentation, a Q-and-A portion, prize giveaways, and a potential after-party with details TBD. Hotton-MacDonald said the service plan will include additional service hours for buses that take effect with the April schedule change.

While these two developments roll down the tracks, another is still at the station. The heaters in shelters along the Valley Line Southeast LRT are not operating because they are not effective at keeping riders warm in the now-doorless shelters, Hotton-MacDonald said.

"We're doing a review … with the doors, coming up, and looking at the designs of those spaces," Hotton-MacDonald said. "We want to move to more of an on-demand style for heating in those spaces, similar to what we have at some of our other stations."