Jump to content

ETS Blue


A. Wong

Recommended Posts

  • Board Admin

Not sure, but it would probably be the cost of the standalone card readers (our TVMs are already smart card ready) plus maybe some additional infrastructure and the cost of the cards themselves. And the usual training, maintenance, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Board Admin

The date specified is 2009.

I'm not sure when it actually starts, as they will have to choose the participants, but I agree it does seem a bit short. Though I'm not really sure what they are trying to do other than maybe test the system out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it is only two months according to the City of Edmonton web site:

Edmonton Transit and University Test Smart Cards

June 03, 2009

Edmonton Transit and the University of Alberta are collaborating to demonstrate the potential of a transit smart card technology called “ETSBlue”.

Starting in June, a select number of University staff will be using a co-branded ETSBlue/ONEcard for travel on the LRT system only. Smart card validators have been located at the entrances to the ‘Proof of Payment’ areas in all LRT stations.

“We’re very excited to be working with the University on this demonstration project,” said Patricia Waisman, Director of Business Development for Edmonton Transit. “University staff travel frequently on the LRT and their card use will provide us with significant data for evaluating and planning future smart card applications.”

According to Don Hickey, Vice-President, Facilities and Operations for the University of Alberta, “The University will benefit from this test by gathering user feedback on a technology that may help the University meet future Travel Demand Management challenges for our faculty and staff. As part of the agreement between the University and Edmonton Transit with regard to the ETSBlue smart card, it is understood that the City and the University will continue to work together to investigate and implement a smart card for the University Staff Pass initiative.”

The demonstration project is scheduled to last two months and is being managed by Edmonton Transit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I got selected for this program as an employee of the U of A today. There was an application thing last week that employees were encouraged to fill out with LRT usage habits (as well as other questions mostly about how we use our ONEcards for other services on campus). According to the memo, they were picking around 200 staff members on campus for the program.

Anyway, this afternoon, I got an email congratulating me on being part of the test program. It starts on 2 July, when they'll be swapping our current staff ONEcards for ETS Blue-enabled ONEcards, and ends on 31 July. Kinda short, but they're letting us use the LRT free of charge through the month, on the entire Clareview-South Campus line.

If you want to read it, the interdepartmental memo from a couple weeks ago on ETS Blue is here (PDF). From the sounds of it, the test is not only to try out the smart card infrastructure, but also to assess the U of A's transit needs.

I'll keep you guys posted and post pictures once the program starts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many students/staff are currently at the UofA right now, as I thought most classes were pretty well wrapped up in late April

Which brings to mind, why are they testing during the "non-peak" UofA sessions, the middle of summer, wouldn't a test in the busier periods have more validity?

Less undergrads, but slightly higher number of staff; there's a lot of summer student staff positions at the U of A. Traffic to South Campus right now would probably be higher with all the Athletics department staff going back and forth from the offices to the fields, and Enterprise Square is a mostly staff campus anyway so it wouldn't be affected by a higher number of students.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got my ETS Blue ONEcard today!

They were distributing new cards for us chosen few (200 employees out of the total 14 000 people working at the U) at the U of A's ONEcard Office; it was about a half-minute wait to get one. It was a simple exchange; the ONEcard staffers had our new cards in a little alphabetically-sorted box, they gave us the new card, took the old one, and put it back in the box. There were two ETS reps with a demo ETS Blue podium to show us how to operate it; when you tap your card on the blue pad, it beeps, lights up a green light on the right side of the panel, and displays "THANK YOU" on the LCD. (For those keeping track at home, the podium had "Fare Room" as its location on the LCD, and no RSV tag.) They also showed us the handheld devices that the fare inspectors will be using; they're bulky black devices with an orange star at the top that kinda look like one of those handheld electronic label makers.

I gave it a whirl at lunch today going to Central; worked just as demoed. If you tap it twice in a row, the LCD displays "Already Touched" with a 64 in the upper right corner, and gives a louder beep.

I'll post pictures later today when I have my camera, and will probably have a video up either tomorrow or next week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Admin

Nice!

Fare Room is at D.L. MacDonald I think. Wonder if they brought the Dodge Sprinter out for that.

I did see a older (1999-2000) Dodge Caravan without a lightbar turn in by Rutherford Library earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Picture time!

front.jpg

Here's the front of the ONEcard. The colours are very washed out compared to a standard ONEcard; more green and yellow than the usual green and gold. The ETS Blue logo is on the card, and not a sticker. Everything else is standard ONEcard fare; the barcode on the front is for Library purposes.

back.jpg

The back is quite different from the regular ONEcard; the usual card has "This Card is Non-Transferable" at the top, instead of the shortened "Non-Transferable" in the middle; the ID number and the card replacement date are usually at the upper right. (Normal ONEcards have a replacement date of four years after being issued, but this one's been artificially shortened.) The STAFF text is usually off to the right and much bigger. The ONEcard office contact info usually sits below the stripe. Finally, those numbers at the top don't appear on regular ONEcards, and I think they have something to do with the ETS Blue "secret sauce".

etsfront.jpg

Here's a little ETS Blue info card that they gave us, along with a "Your Every Day Way to X" cardholder (not pictured). If you look closely, you'll see it depicts a fully ETS-branded ETS Blue card.

etsback.jpg

And here's the back of the info card. Here's a transcription:

• Present your ETS Blue ONEcard at the ETS Blue validator located at all LRT stations. This requires a brief tap, not a wave. The card has been validated when you hear a ”beep” and the green light activates.

• Card validation is required whenever entering the LRT ”Proof of Payment” area, clearly marked at each station.

• Transit Security Officers will be monitoring fares using portable ”ETS Blue” card readers. Upon request, please present your ETS Blue card as proof of payment; your ETS Blue card will be checked for validity. If confirming ID is requested, please present personal identification.

• Card Replacement — if you lose your card or it fails to function properly, return it to the University ONEcard Main Office, for reporting and replacement.

It also has a link to www.ETSblue.ca, which doesn't work at the moment. Way to go, ETS!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Board Admin

Funny comment on The Gateway article:

"It’s not like losing your bus pass where it’s gone, it’s gone, there’s your fifty bucks down the tube,” Dykstra said.

where can i get a 50$ bus pass??????????? please tell me...please

ets fare manager doesn't even know what bus passes cost?????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got an email from the ONEcard Office today: apparently the trial is going successfully so far, and so they're extending it to the end of August.

Bizarrely, however, we're not allowed to return our ETS Blue cards on or after 31 August. Since they're going to be caught up in the rush of new students, they're asking that we don't exchange our cards until 28 September, and to keep using the ETS Blue card as a normal ONEcard. Nice planning, U of A!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it's even implemented by then... or will it be another year until they actually start distributing ETS Blue cards?

Depends on how badly they want to make things happen. On one hand, we have the trolleys, on the other we have a mother load of empty buses running around this city.

Late. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 11 years later...

I know this is a very old topic, but I'm wondering if anyone knows why this didn't go anywhere. While doing research for my article about the Arc card, I found a couple of city reports about this, one from 2007 and the other from September 2009 (shortly after it ended). The 2009 report surprised me with how positive its findings were.

"Surveys showed 99% [of the 200 participants] used the card all the time on the LRT and 97% said it was very easy to use the first time. Over 25% indicated they increased transit use as a result of having a smart card.  Eighty-six percent replaced one to nine car trips/week with transit and 14% replaced 10-19 car trips/week with transit because of the smart card.  User satisfaction was high at 91% and 97% said it was important that the card be expanded across the transit system.  Sixty-four percent indicated it was important that it be used to access Park and Ride. The most frequent email comment was, 'When is this available to use on the bus?'"

Regarding the timeline, the report said that ETS would need up to four years for completion. I understand that perhaps there was a hesitation to invest in the technology, but it's been over a decade and we're only now getting this sort of thing implemented. So what took so long in the meantime? My understanding is that the current project started in 2014, so was this initiative abandoned from 2010-2013? Was the city's intention going into this pilot to see if ETS Blue itself could be implemented city or region-wide? Considering this just sort of died out after the pilot ended, I expected there to be some sort of catastrophic flaw with ETS Blue. There doesn't seem to be one though, at least going off of these reports.

2007TD4370.doc 2009TD6768.doc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, MatthewB said:

"Surveys showed 99% [of the 200 participants] used the card all the time on the LRT and 97% said it was very easy to use the first time. Over 25% indicated they increased transit use as a result of having a smart card.  Eighty-six percent replaced one to nine car trips/week with transit and 14% replaced 10-19 car trips/week with transit because of the smart card.  User satisfaction was high at 91% and 97% said it was important that the card be expanded across the transit system.  Sixty-four percent indicated it was important that it be used to access Park and Ride. The most frequent email comment was, 'When is this available to use on the bus?'"

 

On 6/19/2009 at 7:27 PM, Lucas said:

It starts on 2 July, when they'll be swapping our current staff ONEcards for ETS Blue-enabled ONEcards, and ends on 31 July. Kinda short, but they're letting us use the LRT free of charge through the month, on the entire Clareview-South Campus line.

As good as those responses were, I'm curious if any of the responses were taken out of context because the respondents were able to ride the entire LRT line for free rather than because they had a smart card.

A better way, perhaps, would have been to find users who occasionally used transit (tickets or cash) and then have them use a smart card and see if that would increase their transit usage. Problem is setting up a reloadable smart card for 200 people probably would have cost a hell of a lot more for the backend that would be required to allow card reloads. 

Or

Have a control group of 200 who get free LRT with a regular ONEcard.

Related, I would imagine U of A staff using the LRT in their free zone from South Campus to Kingsway/ RAH will need a ONEcard with Arc to use the LRT.

10 hours ago, MatthewB said:

Regarding the timeline, the report said that ETS would need up to four years for completion. I understand that perhaps there was a hesitation to invest in the technology, but it's been over a decade and we're only now getting this sort of thing implemented. So what took so long in the meantime? My understanding is that the current project started in 2014, so was this initiative abandoned from 2010-2013? Was the city's intention going into this pilot to see if ETS Blue itself could be implemented city or region-wide? Considering this just sort of died out after the pilot ended, I expected there to be some sort of catastrophic flaw with ETS Blue. There doesn't seem to be one though, at least going off of these reports.

I'm sure if you look back through prior budgets smart card implementation never came off of the books. The problem was priorities and money. Smart fare has not been cheap. Edmonton it looking at total region wide costs of about $50 million. By comparison, Calgary's failed Connect card had an initial price tag of around $14 million for a set up with readers on buses and LRT platforms, like Edmonton. I don't recall Edmonton's ever being that, relatively, cheap.
Smart fare also was helped along by getting Smart Bus installed as that helps provide the infrastructure needed for Smart Fare to work (mobile data on buses in particular, but also MDT's as well), and that wasn't finished until 2016. Once that was done, then ETS shifted their focus towards Smart Fare.

The timing has been good too. I suspect the Cubic TVM's are definitely coming up on life expired or beyond that. I found one stuck on a POST screen the other day and it was almost shocking how old some of the technology is in them... The processor was outdated before the TVM's were even put into service.

ETS still has on the books a profile to replace the current fareboxes. This profile has existed for a long time. I guess one day it might get pushed to the top of the list, although, theoretically the fareboxes should see less use with Arc, so wear and tear will decrease. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...