App Store needs to improve ability to make paragraphs for readability lol.
Three stars is being generous. To the app and VRT in general.
Although I really appreciate and respect everyone I’ve ever interacted with there! And I really appreciate the hard work & efforts.
The systems and policies I don’t always agree with, if they could be better and just aren’t, especially regarding use of some platforms that are advertised and known to not be private or secure so financial and trustworthy health institutions DO NOT USE EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE PERSONAL INFO (such as mainstream free email providers) and instead use a secure and private platform or web-based secure pages that requires secure login and authorization measures.
2:12 -2:22 pm Tuesday 10/18/2022 busy, can’t/won’t schedule a ride.
Appears to change current location as you change your point on map but immediately reverts to last location when I got a ride!
Anyway… as for “on demand” app: advertised as running until 8 pm but a driver told me it stops taking rides at about 7!
& Canyon County buses don’t run AT ALL on Sat/Sun! And on-demand means it often takes up to close to an hour to get a ride… after picks up & drops off others.
On-demand is a misnomer in my opinion, but I deal with people who usually take things literally & expect people to say what they mean & mean what they say. Not usually unreasonable.
The other day my friend couldn’t figure out where “on-demand” bus was picking her up when she got off bus from Boise on 10/7/2022 at Walmart, so she missed it while she was on phone with me, having sent me a screenshot of map it gave her, having me try to help her get to where she needed to go for the “On demand” bus, which also doesn’t show up on any mapping apps like the iphone map, because IT ISN’T A TRUE ROUTE.
This was at 6:30 PM on a Friday. It had already taken from 4 or so to 6:30 pm just to get to Nampa from Emerald & Curtis in Boise!!!
Then when friend tried to request a new bus immediately (she saw it drive off while waving at it), the app kept giving message that it was busy! She tried repeatedly as she was stranded & had no other option at that time…
After being at work all day & 2 hours plus to get only part way home, which is by Amity & Holly.
It never did work!!! so she sat there until 9 PM!!!
That’s when I was finally able to go get her from very opposite end of town in southwest Nampa. What if I’d been gone tending to aging parents in Eastern Idaho?!
The app has probably worked properly or in reasonable time for me & someone I know less than 1/2 time. The claim is always there’s a lack of funding so they only have so many buses but they just bought electric buses in Boise, right?!
I am a solution-oriented person so I signed up a couple years ago as a volunteer driver for them because I’m trying to be part of the solution, but the ones in charge of policies and such don’t seem to listen to constructive feedback about the app or other things, like privacy issues (possibly also HIPAA-related), so finally I’m writing this review.
They REALLY need a dedicated VIA app person to try to help them help their CUSTOMERS/ STAKEHOLDERS in real time or as close to it as possible, such as when the app won’t let you log in, won’t send the password reset it claimed it just did, etc.!
Also since the cities DO contribute toward their funding, then I realized after I hung up that what an employee told me recently about them not really answering to anyone is just not true. And she wasn’t being rude or arrogant or anything, and I think she really thinks that’s the case.
but it’s clearly not and something needs to change dramatically with public transportation in the area, especially with the ever-increasing population spread from west of Middleton to miles beyond the airport toward Mountain Home and WAY into HIGHLY-POPULATED AREAS that ARE NOT WITHIN CITY LIMITS BECAUSE THE CITIES HAVE BEEN STUPID AND SHORT-SIGHTED.
People (the elderly, those with disabilities, & others) shouldn’t have to be “lucky” to get basic places where they need to go & I also have a STRONG CONCERN about it being as EFFICIENT AND financially self-supporting as possible. Even the reimbursement for only mileage for volunteer drivers hurts my conscience at times and yet it’s costing a lot of miles (wear and tear) on my vehicle sometimes so I guess it is what it is.
I love VRT & people in general, including those who actually NEED public transportation, so I hope this can be part of improving it for the “least of these” (Jesus’ words) in our communities.
ACCESS not running at all in Meridian is a whole other conversation & Meridian ought to be ashamed, but then I haven’t looked at the financial requirements for ACCESS to be the contractor vs the city or VRT coming up with their own solution. I just know a seamless door to door transport for those who have a harder time or wouldn’t otherwise be able to navigate the regular routes (let alone the “on-demand” system!) from one end of the Treasure Valley to the other ought to be possible and isn’t, partly because priority is given to Boise transportation, but the other cities are each close to 100,000 people! and Meridian appears to not want their non-driving citizens to live full lives in spite of VRT’s offices being also located in Meridian!
**should be (but isn’t!) possible to ride bus less than 2-3 HOURS to get 20-30 miles across most of Treasure Valley & get to work by 7 am in Boise & back 7pm+ to anywhere Nampa, along I-84 into Caldwell at least.
If could justify a newer vehicle that Boise accepts (bureaucratic permit issues in spite of “constitutional republic” or “open markets”) I’d likely start a transport company lol.
So many ideas & yet a few implemented well would do SO MUCH MORE GOOD for people genuinely in need to get to just BASIC work, doctor appts, etc. And people should take care of their own families & yet have to balance working to pay for housing, etc., as well. To be continued…
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