Everyone needs to register their own accounts
It is a stupid design that one cannot use their account for multiple people. For group travelers to this city we just prefer to register one account to be shared with everyone. Because pronto didn't allow multiple scans during one ride, the bus driver was nice enough to let us all on the bus with only one person paying the fare. This is a quite embarrassing shame design. If you allow account sharing you can save millions of dollars for the beautiful city of San Diego.
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This app works good until it doesn't
Today I was waiting for a bus and opened the app to load some money. But there was a blank screen telling me the card was not attached. I decided it was some minor failure and pressed "Link the card" button. And surprise-surprise - an error message telling me I can't. Then I wanted to check the "Use" page to see my QR card, and there was another error message: "The time on your device is wrong". Should I mention it wasn't? The only option to fix it was to reinstall the app. By the way, how come users have to link the existing digital pass themselves? Sure, it's only one button, but still, shouldn't it be, you know, linked to the account and added automatically? The same thing happened to my mum too. Long story short, I'm extremely frustrated. Good thing I checked the app in advance and had $2,5 in cash prepared just in case, but what about letting the QA team do their job?
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Amazing Failure
There are almost no words for how terrible this app is. The navigation and design is something that I’d expect from a clueless student attempting their first ever app. Pronto is constantly crashing, timing out and failing to reload, or doesn’t bring you to the next screen despite lots of clicking… Looking at you, Trip Planner “search” function. As such, you cannot get to the point where you can actually purchase your ride.
The alternatives are to pay additional for the standard $15 day pass, which is pricier than any of the one way or round trip options had the Trip Planner actually worked, or purchase a monthly pass which is significantly pricier. At a minimum, the app needs to be functional for the community to utilize it and public transit at large.
This app is a downgrade from the previous Compass app, and makes taking public transit even more challenging than it already is. If this app is the county’s indirect way of advocating for cars, I would consider this a great success.
The alternatives are to pay additional for the standard $15 day pass, which is pricier than any of the one way or round trip options had the Trip Planner actually worked, or purchase a monthly pass which is significantly pricier. At a minimum, the app needs to be functional for the community to utilize it and public transit at large.
This app is a downgrade from the previous Compass app, and makes taking public transit even more challenging than it already is. If this app is the county’s indirect way of advocating for cars, I would consider this a great success.
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No Amex; No Apple Pay; Crashing
The software behind this app is really lacking in quality. I just downloaded and had the following experience:
- No American Express cards were accepted when trying to add a payment option. But it didn’t tell me that. After entering my card details I kept getting “400 Bad Request” errors until I chose a non-Amex card. The app should at least say that Amex isn’t supported.
- No Apple Pay nor Apple Wallet integration. I couldn’t use Apple Pay to load balance, and you can’t add the Pronto card to Apple Wallet — even though the App Store page says it has Apple Wallet support! Which is kinda disappointing and dishonest.
- Crashes every time I try to use Trip Planner. Whenever I hit “Search” the app instantly crashes. Oh well.
Two stars since it’s a horrible user experience but I enjoy that we finally have a unified digital transit card.
- No American Express cards were accepted when trying to add a payment option. But it didn’t tell me that. After entering my card details I kept getting “400 Bad Request” errors until I chose a non-Amex card. The app should at least say that Amex isn’t supported.
- No Apple Pay nor Apple Wallet integration. I couldn’t use Apple Pay to load balance, and you can’t add the Pronto card to Apple Wallet — even though the App Store page says it has Apple Wallet support! Which is kinda disappointing and dishonest.
- Crashes every time I try to use Trip Planner. Whenever I hit “Search” the app instantly crashes. Oh well.
Two stars since it’s a horrible user experience but I enjoy that we finally have a unified digital transit card.
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easier to pay fair vs cash, but …
five. Stars for ability to load money on the app and use it at the trolley. Downgrade one or two stars if you want to get a senior or student discount as you have to call the transit authority during business hours, one star if you want to use it to plan a trip because it crashes as soon as you do the search feature.
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Buggy, incomplete information
Crashes when trying to use the Trip Planner feature.
Do not expect to find any information about upcoming holiday schedules. My child was left stranded one evening at work because there was nothing to indicate that the buses weren’t going to run on a holiday evening, and I had to go get them after they waited for an hour for a bus which wasn’t coming.
On a side note, the app doesn’t show previous departures on any route, so there’s no way to know if a trolley or bus is on its way.
Do not expect to find any information about upcoming holiday schedules. My child was left stranded one evening at work because there was nothing to indicate that the buses weren’t going to run on a holiday evening, and I had to go get them after they waited for an hour for a bus which wasn’t coming.
On a side note, the app doesn’t show previous departures on any route, so there’s no way to know if a trolley or bus is on its way.
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How do you use this app?
I’m sure this app is easy to use for the people who designed it and the people that have been grandfathered in from some previous system. As a person who is learning it from scratch, it is a real puzzle. There are literally no instructions in the app, and it’s not intuitive. Worst of all there is no visual feedback telling you that you are clear to ride the train. Here’s the process as far as I can tell…. Add money, scan at a station, hear a beep (hopefully you are not hearing impaired), see nothing has changed on the app, get on the train, then hope you don’t get a ticket from a transit cop.
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Disgusting cant remove incorrect balance added
Beware loading as little as possible to a card, otherwise no money will be returned back to your credit/debit card. Added as mobile data is pretty bad in San diego, so loaded with bigger amount. Such a mess considering being a guest.
My Pronto Experience…
I love the Pronto pass. I’m haven’t been a “bus/trolley” user, ever, for several reasons…
1) I absolutely hate buying a bus pass due to my influx of using my personal car for transportation.
2) The fact that your bus pass doesn’t roll-over if not used w/in the 30days (the month) it was purchased irritated me because I’d end up wasting or throwing away my “unused” portion (had I used my personal car).
3) Your bus pass is/was always too expensive for me to purchase (I believe it was or is approx $70).
The Pronto Pass I downloaded on my phone and, at my convenience, I can load whatever amount I can afford at a specific time. See that’s important to me because I have limited funds.
I find the Pronto Pass is allowing me the freedom to choose wether or not I take the bus/trolley and not worry about losing money because I chose another mode of transportation. And, that freedom, alone, is opening up my, otherwise, negative opinions of public transportation.
I hope I conveyed my point, really not sure if I did but one thing is sure…I love the Pronto Pass!! Keep it going it works for me!!!
Respectfully,
Sheila C
OMG I’m having a difficult time sending this review because of this Nickname crap!! I’ll try one more time…
1) I absolutely hate buying a bus pass due to my influx of using my personal car for transportation.
2) The fact that your bus pass doesn’t roll-over if not used w/in the 30days (the month) it was purchased irritated me because I’d end up wasting or throwing away my “unused” portion (had I used my personal car).
3) Your bus pass is/was always too expensive for me to purchase (I believe it was or is approx $70).
The Pronto Pass I downloaded on my phone and, at my convenience, I can load whatever amount I can afford at a specific time. See that’s important to me because I have limited funds.
I find the Pronto Pass is allowing me the freedom to choose wether or not I take the bus/trolley and not worry about losing money because I chose another mode of transportation. And, that freedom, alone, is opening up my, otherwise, negative opinions of public transportation.
I hope I conveyed my point, really not sure if I did but one thing is sure…I love the Pronto Pass!! Keep it going it works for me!!!
Respectfully,
Sheila C
OMG I’m having a difficult time sending this review because of this Nickname crap!! I’ll try one more time…
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Pronto needs to fix this
This is really bad, so many people are complaining about how every time they go into trip planner and try to search something in it just crashes. This is happening to me too. Pronto if you’re reading this please fix this. This has been going on for the past few months now and it hasn’t changed. It is starting to annoy me and I can’t ever figure out where to go, that’s why I used trip planner to help me. It also helps me when I’m trying to figure out when the bus arrives and it is really helpful. I will change my review to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ if you fix it
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