MuniMobile

I mainly use this app to tell when the next buses are coming and to plan routes - are use my clipper card to actually pay for tickets. On the few times when I did not have my clipper card, I use the app to purchase a ticket and it worked fine without issues. The only time I can encounter problems is when my phone connects to the free SF Wi-Fi, and then It can take some time for the route to load. In those cases, I just turn off the wireless to force it to use cell and it goes back to working fine. I don’t seem to have any of the problems that some of the one-star reviewers are giving. Have used this over a year now.

As a tourist using this app, I found the ability to purchase passes & show them on my phone helpful. However, the route planning could be wildly improved by 1) allowing you to save routes 2)auto-filling previously keyed routes 3) recognizing what stop you are nearest to while using. If you wait too long, or sometimes even flip to another app/window, it closes out and you have to re-key your route in the search fields. Being totally new to town and to public transportation, I needed to constantly refer to the routing info to ensure I was headed the right way and on the right bus. It was a hassle and time-consuming to continually rekey info...especially when on a bus and needing info quickly while stops are flying by. Also, it wasn’t really clear if I was supposed to be scanning my phone when entering busses or just showing it to the driver...clarification needed. Finally, as a tourist, I also didn’t realize BART wasn’t covered by the passes, even though it WAS listed in the routing suggestions. Things that could be somehow indicated within the app.

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This app is horrible and easily resulted in a $125 ticket. It works fundamentally different from all other forms of payment and muni fare enforcers have not updated their practices for it. In a part of town where stops are one block apart, enforcers stepped on one block after I stepped on and activated a ticket. It takes a bit to open the app and do that. They said the activation time was too recent. I said I just got on. They said everyone says that, you were supposed to activate before you go on, were totally unsympathetic and wrote me a fat ticket. The problem is EVERY other form of muni payment happens on the bus. Why is this different? It’s totally unintuitive. How many people read the fine print and remember to activate in advance? How many times have you ran to catch a bus and just made it? This is a classic case of “blaming the user” for a bad user experience. Why can’t we just TAP TO PAY with this app like other modern cities? Stay away from this app.

This is a convenient app that works well but it has a significant design flaw. You need to be signed in to the app to use a purchased ticket — but once you are signed in there’s no further verification needed to access your stored credit card info to purchase more tickets. It would be much more secure if there was a second level of verification required to access the credit card — such as requiring a fingerprint. And since the app doesn’t automatically sign you out if you lost your phone your credit card purchasing would remain enabled. I realize that someone who found or stole your phone would also need to be able to log onto your phone before they could access the app, but still that seems like a thin layer of protection.

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Local riders are aware of the “late night special” when riding muni at night. Any fare paid for after 830pm do not have the normal 2 hour expiration time and are valid to use until 5am of the next day. Before the recent update the app applied the late night special to your tickets used after 830pm. After the recent update your tickets used after 830pm expire in 2 hours. Your better off paying an extra 25cents to get a paper transfer or use your clipper card because the late special still works with those forms of payment. I also find it kind of disingenuous that it’s not mentioned in the update description or anywhere else on the app. If it’s a bug or something I’ll gladly change my rating of the app but I’ve tried to contact the developers and Sfmta to ask about this in a few emails and follow ups but still haven’t heard back