[EdwardEdm]

How does the city track it's ridership numbers on the LRT?

Historically, once or twice per year, ETS would have people out on every LRT car (2 per car I believe) with clipboards recording with clickers every boarding and alighting for a week or so. From there they would extrapolate the numbers.
Bus drivers would do the same, but only for boardings.
I'm not sure if the LRT is still done that way. The bus fleet now has a group of buses equipped with automatic passenger counters that can be deployed as when and where as needed to capture passenger data. I haven't observed APC's on the LRT, but it's possible they could have an automated system by now.

 

[occidentalcapital]

I wasn't sure where to put this but I thought this matched well with the theme of Safety and specifically the proposition of putting fare gates at certain stations:

How does the city track it's ridership numbers on the LRT? I rarely if every see people pay for tickets, tap their ARC cards and otherwise. I'm one of the only people I know who does it consistently. There is nothing stopping you from simply, walking onto the train. I've never been asked to confirm payment or show my ARC Card.

University students are (I would assume) one of the largest groups of LRT users, and most of them don't tap their cards. When I've used other non-university stations, especially on the Valley Line, I see people just simply walk onto the train, no questions asked.

So I guess my question simply is, how does the city track ridership? If it is by ARC taps and ticket sales, those numbers are going to well below actual numbers.

Your experience aligns with mine. I would estimate there's currently a 90% fare evasion rate- I'm not exaggerating. People are not tapping their cards at all.

 

[Gus Haynes]

^I think these observations may not account for the population that has monthly passes. You don't tap those.

 

[erudyk_29]

^I think these observations may not account for the population that has monthly passes. You don't tap those.

True however, the point still stands. There is a large number of people who aren't tapping, buying passes or buying monthly passes. Fare Evasion is a massive problem in Edmonton.

 

[EdwardEdm]

Tapping on the LRT is almost a moot point. The occasional time I've been fare checked on the platform or trains the fact I have an Arc product is good enough. They do not have hand held readers to verify if my fare is valid or not. Sometimes they station peace officers at the top in the fare paid zone on the concourse level to check fares as people exit. This was happening at Churchill yesterday. Doesn't really help with Arc still as someone can tap out I front of them but there's no way to tell

 

[Gus Haynes]

Tapping on the LRT is almost a moot point. The occasional time I've been fare checked on the platform or trains the fact I have an Arc product is good enough. They do not have hand held readers to verify if my fare is valid or not. Sometimes they station peace officers at the top in the fare paid zone on the concourse level to check fares as people exit. This was happening at Churchill yesterday. Doesn't really help with Arc still as someone can tap out I front of them but there's no way to tell

Really? I was on a bus recently, and peace officers scanned everyone's Arc cards to check if they had been properly tapped. Perhaps this is a lot easier on a stopped bus (with a captive audience) than a mass of people exiting an LRT station, though.

 

[occidentalcapital]

^I think these observations may not account for the population that has monthly passes. You don't tap those.

I thought ARC monthly passes still needed to be tapped since there's a fare cap per month?

 

[Gus Haynes]

^The old monthly passes are still sold and used, though: https://www.edmonton.ca/ets/fares-passes

 

[EdwardEdm]

Really? I was on a bus recently, and peace officers scanned everyone's Arc cards to check if they had been properly tapped. Perhaps this is a lot easier on a stopped bus (with a captive audience) than a mass of people exiting an LRT station, though.

I chose my words carefully when I suggested they don't have enough handheld readers. That's not to say they don't have some handheld readers.

 

[EdwardEdm]

I thought ARC monthly passes still needed to be tapped since there's a fare cap per month?

There are no monthly Arc passes. There's a monthly fare cap after which you don't get charged.

 

[BrettB]

Actually, there still are monthly passes. Not sure why anyone would buy one, but they can be bought online.

 

[David A]

I believe they can still also be bought in person at a number of retail stores located throughout the city, for those who do get out from time to time and don't have an extreme aversion to in person shopping.

 

[Gus Haynes]

I still see people flashing monthly passes to bus drivers whenever I take ETS. Some people prefer not to fuss with the tap system at all and don't have Arc cards for that reason. I use an Arc card myself, but the tap readers on busses can be very... temperamental, so this is a point of view that I sympathize with.

 

[Gronk!]

I still see people flashing monthly passes to bus drivers whenever I take ETS. Some people prefer not to fuss with the tap system at all and don't have Arc cards for that reason. I use an Arc card myself, but the tap readers on busses can be very... temperamental, so this is a point of view that I sympathize with.

I think it's high time the ARC servers are maintained locally instead of some underground bunker half a world away.

 

[Glenco]

I still see people flashing monthly passes to bus drivers whenever I take ETS. Some people prefer not to fuss with the tap system at all and don't have Arc cards for that reason. I use an Arc card myself, but the tap readers on busses can be very... temperamental, so this is a point of view that I sympathize with.

Seniors will be issued ARC cards starting this month. The old passes are good until the end of March