Fare Capping

 

What is a fare cap?

Fare caps ensure that you never pay more than the amount for a day pass (if you live in Edmonton) or a monthly Pass (all regions). Once you hit the fare cap, you ride for the rest of the day or month for free! Fare caps differ between regions.

If you are in a special customer group (for example, seniors) you are eligible for a discounted fare cap. These will become available in 2023. To receive a discounted fare cap, you will need to register your Arc account. Otherwise, you will receive the Standard Fare cap.

 

How does a fare cap work?

When you use your Arc card to tap on and off the bus or LRT, you will be charged a flat rate fare based on where you are travelling. Once you hit the maximum cap for the region you are travelling in, you will no longer be charged for that time period. For example, if you travel in St. Albert, you would contribute to a St. Albert monthly fare cap. Every trip, you would be charged the same fare. Once you reach the amount that a monthly pass would cost, you ride for the rest of the month for free! For more information on Cap Contributors, please click here.

If you have less than $4 in your account and have reached a monthly cap, the Arc validators will give you a yellow warning letting you know you have low funds in your account. You can still board, but the validator will continue to flash yellow until you top up your account. You'll need to top up your account before the next day or month starts depending on which fare cap you reached. If you have less than $0.99 in your account and have not reached a monthly cap, the Arc validators will give you a red warning. You will need to top up your account before tapping again.

 

What are the fare cap prices?

In order to serve passengers, Arc allows for different fare caps for each transit agency and passenger type. Depending on whether you are an adult, youth, student or eligible for a subsidy program, your trips will contribute towards a different priced fare cap. To find out the flat fare rates for each agency, please click here.

To find out your fare cap, please select your passenger profile. At this time only Standard profiles are in effect, but discounted fare options will become available at a later date.

Profile Name	Description
Standard Adult	Standard Adult passenger (non-discounted)
Youth (6-18)	Youth between the ages of 6 and 18
Young Adult (19-24)	Young adults between the ages of 19 and 24
Student (19-24)	Students between the ages of 19 and 24 (who are not part of the U-Pass program). For verification purposes, students may be asked to provide valid school IDs to show proof of full-time attendance at a post-secondary school upon request.
Student (25+)	Students over the age of 25 (who are not part of the U-Pass program). For verification purposes, students may be asked to provide valid school IDs to show proof of full-time attendance at a post-secondary school upon request.
Senior	Individuals age 65 and over
Subsidy COMING SOON	Individuals with a qualifying income - contact your local transit agency for more information

Standard Adult

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$100.00	$47.50	$55.00	$76.00	$65.00	$57.00
Commuter	$80.00			$85.50	$90.00	$119.00	$135.00	$113.75
Airport			$90.00

Youth (6-18)

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$73.00	$23.75	$55.00	$0.00	$45.00	$42.75
Commuter	$70.00			$42.75	$90.00	$107.00	$100.00	$85.50
Airport			$90.00

Young Adult (19-24)

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$73.00	$47.50	$55.00	$76.00	$65.00	$57.00
Commuter	$80.00			$85.50	$90.00	$119.00	$135.00	$113.75
Airport			$90.00

Student (19-24)

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$73.00	$23.75	$55.00	$0.00	$65.00	$42.75
Commuter	$70.00			$42.75	$90.00	$107.00	$100.00	$85.50
Airport			$90.00

Student (25+)

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$100.00	$23.75	$55.00	$76.00	$65.00	$42.75
Commuter	$70.00			$42.75	$90.00	$107.00	$100.00	$85.50
Airport			$90.00

Senior

	Beaumont Monthly Cap	Edmonton Daily Cap	Edmonton Monthly Cap	Edmonton Annual Cap	Fort Saskatchewan Monthly Cap	Leduc Monthly Cap	St. Albert Monthly Cap	Spruce Grove Monthly Cap	Strathcona County Monthly Cap
Local		$10.25	$35.00	$385.00	$23.75	$55.00	$41.80	$65.00	$22.50
Commuter	$70.00				$42.75	$90.00	$65.00	$135.00	$45.00
Airport			$90.00

 

If I reach the fare cap in my region and take a trip in another region, will I be charged?

Once you reach the fare cap in your region (either a regional commuter cap or the ETS local cap), you will not be charged for transit until the next month starts. For example, if you travel enough on Beaumont Transit to reach their $80 commuter monthly cap and then you take a trip on ETS, that ETS trip will be free.

 

Is my cap impacted if I don't tap off the bus or LRT?

In order to properly calculate your fare, the Arc system needs to know where you started and ended your trip. This means that you must tap on and tap off the bus or LRT. If you forget to tap off, instead of being charged a flat rate fare, you will be charged a Missing Tap fare. A Missing Tap fare will still contribute to your fare cap, but it may be more expensive than the flat rate fare.