Arc card: balance, reloading and how it works
Check your balance, add money, put it on your phone — and work out whether you need one at all.
What Arc is
Arc is the regional reloadable tap card for Edmonton transit — the LRT and ETS buses, plus a growing list of regional partner services. It is not a paper ticket: it is an account you tap into, with your stored value held safely in a secure online account rather than on the card itself.
The first thing worth saying is that you may not need an Arc card at all. Tapping a contactless bank card or your phone on the reader costs exactly the same $3.00 and requires nothing to be bought, registered or topped up. A bank card or phone tapped the same way every time also gets the standard adult daily and monthly fare caps. An Arc card is worth having if you qualify for a concession fare (youth, senior or Ride Transit), if you would rather load money than tap a bank card, or if you want to manage a family’s cards from one account — each rider over 12 still needs their own card.
Arc card and reader photos: Matthew Boonstra, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Fare
- $3.00 per ride, same as tapping a bank card
- Where
- $6 from the fare vending machines at LRT stations, the Edmonton Service Centre, Arc retail vendors, or online at myarc.ca
- Reload
- myarc.ca, the Arc app, by phone 1-888-302-0001, the Service Centre or a vendor — minimum load $4
- Balance
- myarc.ca, the Arc app, a vending machine, 1-888-302-0001, or at the reader as you tap
- Expiry
- Stored value never expires; the balance is held in a secure online account, so registering protects it if the card is lost
How to check your Arc card balance
On myarc.ca
Log in to your Arc account and the balance is on the dashboard, along with your fare-cap progress for the day and the month. Register the card first with the number on the back — it is also what protects your balance if the card is ever lost.
In the Arc app
The quickest way once you have the app. Open it and the balance is on the front screen. Free on iOS and Android.
At a vending machine
Tap the card on a fare vending machine and the balance shows on screen. No account needed — these are at LRT stations and the Edmonton Service Centre.
By phone
Call Arc support on 1-888-302-0001 and the automated line can read out your balance, or an agent can help with your account.
At the reader
When you tap to board, the reader shows your remaining balance. Not a way to plan ahead, but it is the check most people actually use.
How to reload an Arc card
| Where | Pay with | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| myarc.ca | Credit or debit | Instant once the card is registered; you can also set up auto-load |
| Arc app | Credit or debit | Instant, and shows your fare-cap progress as you go |
| By phone | Credit or debit | Arc support on 1-888-302-0001 |
| Edmonton Service Centre | Cash, credit or debit | In person, and where you can also buy the card and sort out concessions |
| Arc retail vendors | Cash, credit or debit | Participating shops around the city |
| Fare vending machines | Cash, credit or debit | At LRT stations and some transit centres |
Where to get an Arc card
You can pick up an Arc card:
- At a fare vending machine — at LRT stations, for $6; they take cash, debit and credit, and also sell 90-minute and 24-hour Arc tickets.
- At the Edmonton Service Centre — the in-person option, and where staff can help with concession registration and your first load.
- At an Arc retail vendor — participating shops around Edmonton; they take cash as well as cards.
- Online at myarc.ca — but it has to be posted to you, so this is no use if you are already here and want to ride today.
Register the card at myarc.ca and your balance is protected if the card is lost — because the stored value lives in your online account, not on the plastic, a registered card can be replaced without losing a cent. An unregistered card, like cash, is gone if you lose it.
Just visiting? You may not need an Arc card at all. Tap the contactless bank card already in your pocket on the reader and go — it is the same $3.00 fare, with nothing to buy or reload.
Putting Arc on your phone
There are a couple of ways to ride with your phone, and they are worth telling apart:
- The Arc app — manage your account, check the balance, reload, and see your fare-cap progress. Free on iOS and Android, and the easiest way to keep an eye on a registered card.
- Just tap the contactless bank card or phone you already carry — no app, nothing to set up, the same $3.00 fare. Use the same card or phone every time and the standard adult daily and monthly caps still apply; only concession fares need an Arc account.
If you live here and qualify for a youth, senior or Ride Transit fare, an Arc card with the concession on your account is the one to have.
Arc questions
Log in at myarc.ca or open the Arc app — both show your balance and your fare-cap progress. You can also tap the card at a vending machine, call Arc support on 1-888-302-0001, or just watch the reader when you tap to board, which displays your remaining balance.
On myarc.ca, in the Arc app, by phone on 1-888-302-0001, at a fare vending machine in an LRT station, at the Edmonton Service Centre, or at an Arc retail vendor. Online and in the app take credit or debit; vending machines, the Service Centre and vendors also take cash. The minimum reload is $4, and you can set up auto-load so the card tops itself up when it runs low.
The card itself costs $6, plus whatever value you load on it (the minimum load is $4). Rides are $3.00 each — the same as tapping a bank card — and the stored value never expires.
Probably not. Tap the contactless bank card or phone you already have on the reader: same $3.00 fare, nothing to buy, no line. Tap the same card every time and the standard fare caps apply automatically. Get an Arc card if you qualify for a concession fare. Each rider over 12 needs their own card.
Yes, if you are loading real money onto it. Registering at myarc.ca ties the balance to your account rather than the plastic, so a lost or damaged card can be replaced without losing the value on it. Registration is also what enables concession fares.
No. Each rider over the age of 12 needs their own form of payment — an Arc card, a bank card or a ticket. You can, though, link several Arc cards to one Arc account and load them all from it; each card keeps its own fare cap and history. Children 12 and under ride free with a fare-paying rider.
No — stored value never expires. It sits in your secure online account until you use it, which is one of the nicer things about the system: money you load does not quietly disappear.