r/Edmonton • u/Mean_Body_638 • 1d ago
General Petition to include Arc card into Google/iphone wallet
I’m just wondering now with the tap-as-you-go feature with credit/debit card, isn’t there an efficient way where instead the arc card can also be integrated into our iPhone/Samsung wallet? It would also be more efficient for students with U-Pass.
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u/Bulliwyf 1d ago
Iirc on how it works, they have to build a stand alone app that does the payment through that, and then petition Apple/Android to include it in the wallet, and then maintain it through every version of the OS and all its offshoots.
It’s not impossible (Toronto’s presto system exists) it’s just really expensive.
Honestly, let’s just be happy that we finally got debit/credit tap finally.
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u/Datkif cyclist 23h ago
Other cities like Ottawa also use the presto systems IIRC so the overall cost to implementing Google/apple wallet is less of a burden on a single transit system compared to just Edmonton/Commuter buses
Plus your debit/credit card also has the same daily and monthly limits as the arc card, and you can apply for concessions on your non-arc cards
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u/boroditsky 1d ago
I use Apple Pay, from my watch, on the bus all the time. What is the advantage of having an arc card, other than if you’re not paying for it out of your own pocket?
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u/Agreeable-Influence8 1d ago
Subsidized riders can only participate through the arc card system.
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u/Datkif cyclist 23h ago
You can add your personal debit/credit cards to the arc website and apply for concessions on them. Your personal cards also have the same daily/monthly limits as an arc card would as well.
The main down side I see is that it pre-authorizes $5 and takes $3 instead of just the $3, and you cannot ride with only $2 in your account (arc card will go negative) like on the arc card
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u/BestWithSnacks 1d ago
We finally got transit cards after decades of getting coins from the ticket machine at the train stations. Wallet integration is probably gonna take some time.
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u/merve04 1d ago
Off topic, but I don’t understand the debit/credit payment. I so rarely use the train, but I had opened CC on Apple Pay and tapped the little freestanding pedestal. It charged my CC like 3 or 4 bucks, but how do you prove now you paid in the event security asks for ticket?
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u/SlitScan 1d ago
you open your cc history and show them the charge.
or they use a reader and see if theres a record of your card being tapped.
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u/snkiz 17h ago
Interac is owned by all the banks. That's why it's so ubiquitous. It why we don't have 16 versions of venmo. It's also slow to change, All this NFC stuff was in Asia 20 years before Interac picked it up, and then the rollout was really being dragged along until Apple entered the market. The first real competition Interac had ever seen.
You'd think the 16 venmo's model would progress faster, but it's worse. Financial networks are things every one needs to agree on. They are a natural monopoly.
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u/mikesmith929 1d ago
Dude it took them 25 years to get this technology. The iPhone/Samsung wallet is what 10 years old. Wait another 15 years we'll get there.
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u/snkiz 20h ago
The wallets were introduced with Google/apple pay. There was no gap. In Toronto, Presto gained wallet functionality about the same time the reader started accepting bank/cc cards, about 10 years after it was installed.
I don't think they'll bother seeing as you can just tap your cc.
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u/mikesmith929 18h ago
OK so I said 15 years and you say 10... let's split the difference and call it 12.5 years.
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u/snkiz 18h ago
I'm saying it's not comparable. For a decade Presto worked with nothing but the presto card. Apple pay was the catalyst for it to accept Interac. Since Arc already works with interac and thru that pay apps spending the money to work with digital wallets independently isn't a priority. Afik you can even tie your payment card to your account, and it tracks to give you the best discount over the month.
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u/Brave_Jackfruit_6963 18h ago
Normally implementing an app or wallet integration would be trivial. But I think because arc has so many program subsidies with colleges and universities its gonna take awhile to integrate everything to one.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/RAGEYeshy 1d ago
Having a card on your mobile wallet doesn't make the card itself stop working. Both would work.
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u/NeatZebra 1d ago
Vancouver and area is spending almost $500 million bucks to upgrade its existing system to a new one that will support wallet based cards.
They have to renew parts of it anyways, so the cost isn’t entirely the capability upgrade, since it is close to 20 years old, but it isn’t something that can be done for free if the system isn’t designed from the get go to implement.