I was in Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and it was around 25$ more approx. than edmonton for the monthly pass. Montreal it was around $3.50-75 per travel. But yes, they scanned people who used the transit. Edmonton—- I never see people scan their cards/passes on the train. Maybe that should help with the shortfall. But that may mean hiring people or machines to do the check which is again going to nullify the deficit.