Amelia Bellamy-Royds Apr 12

Any Edmonton folks have an inside scoop on the details of the "Arc Card fraud" story?

Combining information from the CBC & Journal articles, the story seems to be:

  • One particular ARC fare card machine was either issuing or topping up Arc cards without processing payments.
  • Someone noticed & they/others used the bug to get 300 cards worth a total of $65K.
  • $45K of free fares were used before city staff cancelled these cards.

The parts not explained:

  • What was the bug in the machine? My guess is faulty communication between the payment-card machine & the main computer. Like maybe you type in the wrong PIN & transaction is cancelled, but the card is still issued. But it's not clear.
  • Was there actual fraud for profit, reselling these cards to unsuspecting other people? Or was it more someone telling all their friends how to get free ARC cards from this buggy machine? Based on the disinterest by police, I'm guessing the latter.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-bus-bandits-45000-transit-arc-cards
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-arc-card-transit-fraud-9.7160051

#YEG #YEGtransit #TakeETS

Bus fare bandits bilk city for $45,000 using unregistered Arc cards

Edmonton's Audit Committee hears 'Smart Fare' heist could have cost city $65,000 — police say they were unable to identify the thieves.

edmontonjournal
Likely Jan LukasApr 4, 2025

Hey #yeg, a friend is visiting the city and needs to take #transit for a day or so.

Is an ARC card required? Are they avail on buses or does one need to acquire them in special places?

Are other payment options avail?

I'm not finding the ETS site info esp clear, so tyvm in advance for sharing any Relevant Lore we need. 🙂

#Edmonton
#TakeETS

keithzgFeb 20, 2025
Briefly tried tapping my ARC card, red error then no response at all, too cold to try taking the card out of my wallet at the entirely unsheltered payment area so my hands went back into my gloves until I boarded the LRT, really solid transit payment system we have here in Edmonton
#TakeETS #YEG
Show threadNed YeungJan 16, 2024
@likelyjanlukas Oh, so much this! The removal of bus routes down Stony Plain Road especially (at least, within my radar). It's an absolute clusterfuck! We can't get to locations by bus anymore (within any reasonable timeframe), which are only minutes away by bicycle! #yeg #ETS #takeets #yegbike
Show threadLikely Jan LukasJan 16, 2024

@ned

Agreed.

I am somewhat more pragmatically concerned about things like the City of Edmonton *claiming* to be a 15-minute city, particularly after eradicating so many functional suburban bus routes into this nearly-almost-completely-and-utterly-useless mess.

😳🙄😂

#yeg
#ETS
#takeETS
#yegBike
#abRoads

Show threadLikely Jan LukasDec 8, 2023

@humantransit

Thankfully this won't necessarily impact Edmonton transit users very much, as the city already accomplished that by gutting the longstanding route system and either eradicating local routes or leaving useless remenants behind. 🙄😡

#yeg
#yegTransit
#takeETS
#cantTakeETS

David Mitchell Apr 1, 2023

Wow! Who benefits from hyping fear of ETS safety?
Because on the news tonight they led with “renewed fears over LRT safety issues” … a man on the LRT *didn’t* have a gun (even though they called in a SWAT team on him)
Meanwhile, on the rest of the news: literal on-the-road driving gun battle from moving cars on 97 St, and a murder in broad daylight downtown, but a non-event on LRT is causing fear?
OMG!

#yeg #TakeEts #cartmell #yegcc #transit #crime #safety #GlobalTV

Kelly's Shenanigans 🇨🇦Jan 6, 2023
Used our Arc cards to take the Strathcona County double decker bus because the kids wanted to. Something we wouldn't have done if we didn't have have the Arc cards. #TakeETS #YEGTransit
Adam RozenhartNov 21, 2022

Judging by the comments online I might be one of only a handful of people in #yeg excited about the #takeets Arc card rollout.

I used to use bus tickets a lot and I didn't realize how much anxiety I was carrying about them: easy to lose, not always so simple to get into the fare box, I could run out at stores always seem to be out of stock... I don't know why I worried about these things, but I did.

A reloadable card, though ancient tech by more standards, is a game changer for me!