The City of Edmonton and its regional partners—Beaumont, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, St. Albert, Spruce Grove and Strathcona County—welcome seniors to Arc, the Edmonton region’s electronic fare payment system.

Starting today, seniors aged 65 years and over can sign up for the Arc senior fare profile and begin using Arc. The senior fare group joins the U-Pass, standard adult, and youth and student riders who can already use Arc.

To ensure regular senior riders are charged the correct fare, they need to sign up for a senior profile when activating their Arc card. Instructions on how to complete this step are provided on myArc.ca, through the Arc call centre (1-888-302-0001) and at regional in-person service centres.

While riders eligible for seniors fare can start using Arc immediately, riders who already have a January monthly transit pass are encouraged to wait to start tapping on and off the system until February 1 to receive the full benefit of the monthly fare cap. The monthly fare caps are the same price as existing monthly transit passes. Once riders reach the monthly fare cap, they can ride transit for free for the rest of that month.

Seniors who use paratransit services are encouraged to continue to purchase and use paper tickets or transit passes until we begin collecting fares with the Arc handheld validators on paratransit vehicles later this year.

Arc will be rolled out to seniors who participate in the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) annual pass programs (subsidized and regular) starting May 1. Seniors who currently participate in the ETS seniors annual pass programs will receive communication directly from ETS about Arc and how to transition to the system. For more information, visit edmonton.ca/seniorfares.

Starting this week, staff and outreach teams from participating transit agencies will hand out complimentary Arc cards, while supplies last, to senior riders at various transit centres, LRT stations and shopping centres across the Edmonton region. Complimentary Arc cards for this fare group are available at select recreation centres and in-person service centres across the region.

In Edmonton, an additional layer of support will be available to seniors as they transition to Arc. The City will work with seniors residences and community groups to offer in-person presentations to provide more information about Arc. These sessions will help riders gain comfort with the system through direct support. Complimentary Arc cards will also be distributed at these sessions. Drop-in sessions will also be held at convenient locations, with more information available at edmonton.ca/ets in the near future.

For riders’ convenience, pick-up locations, the outreach team schedules and in-person presentation times and dates will be shared on the participating transit agencies’ social channels and/or websites.

Arc cards are also available for purchase online, by phone at 1-888-302-0001, at transit centres and LRT stations through Arc fare vending machines and at select retailers. For a list of participating Arc retailers, visit myArc.ca.

While senior fare riders in Edmonton are encouraged to transition to Arc, they can continue to purchase senior 10-pack ticket strips and monthly transit passes at ETS sales outlets and through the online ETS store at shop.edmonton.ca. Once Arc has been fully implemented for all ridership groups, ETS will discontinue offering paper tickets and passes. This is anticipated to occur at the end of 2024. Cash fare will continue to be accepted. Each region has its own plans regarding paper fare products. Transit riders are encouraged to contact their transit agency for more information.

Arc allows riders to pay for transit when and how they use it. With Arc, riders can:

Communications Advisor

City Operations

780-446-5747