Great app
This is a very useful app. I recommend it to a lot of people I know who travel by bus.
Disgraceful service
I don’t know where the five star ratings are coming from? Probably all fake because the service and timetables are not up to standard.
Missing out one or two buses is not acceptable and completely unreliable.
Missing out one or two buses is not acceptable and completely unreliable.
Pointless
What is the point in having an app to see when and where the latest bus you need that, not only, doesn’t arrive on time and at worst doesn’t even turn up!
App is good
A good App for the bus service. Counts down the minutes to the bus’ arrival; I did have one bus that completely disappeared, it kept switching to ‘1 minute’ and ‘Due,’ then after 15 minutes the information changed to the next bus time, without any earlier indication that this bus was cancelled. Otherwise I find it easy to plan my journey.
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Better service
The No 1 service has improved
Joe Soap
The journey planner, which should be it’s best feature, doesn’t work! When you enter the details and press enter it just comes back with “We are unable to complete the search RETRY”
So not much use really!
So not much use really!
App barely works
The live times are completely useless when the bus just won’t show up and disappear from the live map. The app also decides to log me off every now and then, and of course you will only realise when you’re about to board the bus and you can’t use your ticket. The app doesn’t allow you to create an account using google or Apple, so you will have to enter your email and password manually.
It is impossible to plan journeys for days other than today.
The bus service is already poor and the app goes along with it.
It is impossible to plan journeys for days other than today.
The bus service is already poor and the app goes along with it.
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4.8 star my *ss
How on earth this app is rated at 4.8 stars, I don’t know.
You can’t even leave any feedback as the screen goes blank.
As for the service of the buses they are getting worse. Delays of half an hour and cancellations are common. Leaving people stranded in freezing temperatures is not good enough.
You can’t even leave any feedback as the screen goes blank.
As for the service of the buses they are getting worse. Delays of half an hour and cancellations are common. Leaving people stranded in freezing temperatures is not good enough.
Frustratingly Complicated Mobile Ticket System
This review is only for the mobile ticket aspect of the app. I don’t use any of the other features. I only downloaded it because it has become the only way to buy bus passes in bulk to make them more affordable. Before this, I was using The Key, a plastic card (like a credit card) that could be preloaded with trips and then used to board the bus just by tapping, like a credit card. The Key has now been discontinued, and the app is now the only way to get a multi-trip bundle of tickets (as far as I’ve been able to find).
I really dislike having to use the app for mobile tickets instead of The Key. I would really appreciate it if Bluestar could bring back The Key, because this system is so dysfunctional. There are three main problems I have with the ticket system on the app:
1) needing phone battery and a mobile connection to activate my ticket. Neither of these are things I should need in order to use tickets I have already paid for. The bus stop I usually use often has poor cell service, and i don’t want to slow down the bus or other passengers trying to get the app to load the tickets I have already paid for. The simplicity and the independence of The Key was much better than this.
2) the short window to use a ticket once activated. Because buses are often late, this limit means I can’t activate the ticket until I am on the bus, or else risk losing the ticket if the bus is delayed or if it doesn’t stop for me. This slows everyone down as I can’t prepare ahead of time to board the bus.
3) the ticket scanning system. On iPhones, there is no way to prevent Wallet from opening when the phone senses a card reader nearby (which is itself stupid, Apple, let me turn this setting off please). Because the system that scans my mobile ticket is so close to the card reader, my phone automatically opens wallet, blocking the QR code, so it can’t be read by the sensor and I have to fight with my phone to stay on the bluestar app long enough for my ticket to be scanned. I’ve had to deactivate Touch ID for wallet in order to make sure I won’t be charged on my card when I’m trying to exit out of wallet and return to my ticket. If it charges my card on accident, I’m paying for the trip twice since the ticket still is used up and disappears after 15 minutes.
This whole system is terrible. It’s unnecessarily complicated and irritating to use. It adds so many points of failure, for no reason at all, and slows down the boarding process which is annoying both to other passengers and the drivers. Please please please please bring back The Key. Preloading trips onto a simple card is infinitely better than this ridiculous mess.
I really dislike having to use the app for mobile tickets instead of The Key. I would really appreciate it if Bluestar could bring back The Key, because this system is so dysfunctional. There are three main problems I have with the ticket system on the app:
1) needing phone battery and a mobile connection to activate my ticket. Neither of these are things I should need in order to use tickets I have already paid for. The bus stop I usually use often has poor cell service, and i don’t want to slow down the bus or other passengers trying to get the app to load the tickets I have already paid for. The simplicity and the independence of The Key was much better than this.
2) the short window to use a ticket once activated. Because buses are often late, this limit means I can’t activate the ticket until I am on the bus, or else risk losing the ticket if the bus is delayed or if it doesn’t stop for me. This slows everyone down as I can’t prepare ahead of time to board the bus.
3) the ticket scanning system. On iPhones, there is no way to prevent Wallet from opening when the phone senses a card reader nearby (which is itself stupid, Apple, let me turn this setting off please). Because the system that scans my mobile ticket is so close to the card reader, my phone automatically opens wallet, blocking the QR code, so it can’t be read by the sensor and I have to fight with my phone to stay on the bluestar app long enough for my ticket to be scanned. I’ve had to deactivate Touch ID for wallet in order to make sure I won’t be charged on my card when I’m trying to exit out of wallet and return to my ticket. If it charges my card on accident, I’m paying for the trip twice since the ticket still is used up and disappears after 15 minutes.
This whole system is terrible. It’s unnecessarily complicated and irritating to use. It adds so many points of failure, for no reason at all, and slows down the boarding process which is annoying both to other passengers and the drivers. Please please please please bring back The Key. Preloading trips onto a simple card is infinitely better than this ridiculous mess.
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Save yourself
Simply the worst bus company is the country.
App rarely actually works, when it does it’s wrong. The busses are either late, cancelled or don’t show up, when they do turn up, 75% of the time they are dangerous overfilled with people and you can’t get on. And when you send a complaint email, you either don’t get a reply or when you do, it’s a fob off reply not actually covering anything you’ve spoken about. New student of 23/24….save yourself the hassle and money… just walk… hell, a Voi Scooter is cheaper, faster and better
App rarely actually works, when it does it’s wrong. The busses are either late, cancelled or don’t show up, when they do turn up, 75% of the time they are dangerous overfilled with people and you can’t get on. And when you send a complaint email, you either don’t get a reply or when you do, it’s a fob off reply not actually covering anything you’ve spoken about. New student of 23/24….save yourself the hassle and money… just walk… hell, a Voi Scooter is cheaper, faster and better
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