onTime vs MTA Mobile Ticketing
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
onTime
Access real-time transit schedules for trains, buses, and subways without paper. Get instant countdowns, track updates, and important service change notifications. Go paperless and be on time for your commute.
- Countdown to next train
- Real-time track info
- Commuter notifications
- Automatic schedule updates
- Online and offline schedules
- Paperless commuting
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onTime™ is fast and easy to use. It is designed with commuters in mind. With onTime you can look up schedules anytime anywhere without having to carry and dig through paper schedules. The act of simply opening the app will show you the schedules and count-down of the next trains. Sign up for commuter-notification to receive latest outages, delays and service changes. Be on time and be environmental friendly at the same time. FEATURES: - Countdown to the next train - Track info - Commuter-Notification Service - Automatic Schedule Update - Real-time updates and track info (where available) - Online and Offline Schedule - Paperless - Trip duration - Maps AGENCIES: Metro North Rail (MNR), Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), Chicago Metra, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit), Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Seattle Sound Transit, Utah Transportation Authority, Virginia Railway Express, Shore Line East, SunRail Central Florida, South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Caltrain and more will be added. onTime is ad-supported. If you choose to purchase onTime Premium to remove ads, payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store afer purchase. onTime Premium: – $4.99 USD (or equivalent) per year and may vary from country to country. – Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase – Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period – Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal – Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase – Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Term Of Service: http://www.mobilewareinc.com/legal/ontime_tos.html * Note: onTime App uses transit agencies' schedule data but it is not affiliated with any of the agencies.
MTA Mobile Ticketing
This app allows users to pay for trips on MTA buses directly from their smartphones. It offers a secure, cash-free payment method using major credit cards.
- Pay for MTA bus trips
- Secure mobile payments
- Cash-free transactions
- Use major credit cards
- Convenient trip payment
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Download the MTA Mobile Ticketing app to easily pay for your trips on MTA’s buses! The mobile app provides an easy and convenient way to securely pay for your trip, right from your phone, cash free, using a major credit card.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: onTime at 45% against MTA Mobile Ticketing's 0%. onTime also leads on rating (3.8 vs 2.0) and ratings volume (214 vs 1). MTA Mobile Ticketing's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. onTime sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per year. MTA Mobile Ticketing asks for nothing beyond the download.
onTime holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: onTime has 214 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of onTime's written reviews are positive against 0% of MTA Mobile Ticketing's.
onTime ships an update every 2 months, MTA Mobile Ticketing every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | onTime | MTA Mobile Ticketing |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (214 ratings) — better | 2.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 45.3% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 214 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 132 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mobileware Inc. | SPX Technologies |
Customer experience
onTime
MTA Mobile Ticketing
Bugs and requests
onTime
Reported bugs
20 issues- App crashes upon opening
- Verification emails do not open the app
- App never gets email verification notification
- New version refuses to hold default route
- Saved trips do not show up
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- Cannot find schedule anymore
- Countdown timer is missing
- App doesn't remember favorite station pairing
- Only shows 'Join Carpool' screen
- App is frozen/spinning ball of waiting
- Won't load or allow location entries
- App shuts down iPhone
- App locks up after ad and premium upgrade request
- Full screen useless advertisement
- App reloads and erases route
- Inaccurate info (late trains indicated as on time)
- App shuts down when clicking 'yes' to 'are you on this train'
- Error message for LIRR connections
- App is crowded with ads, no bandwidth for useful info
- Train timelines and track info take longer to load than ads
Requested features
9 requests- Remove ads
- Option to pay for ad-free version
- Fix verification email links
- Hold default route
- Bring back countdown timer
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- Improve track prediction accuracy
- Allow checking into delayed trains
- Don't change station names to addresses
- Provide timely delay information
MTA Mobile Ticketing
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
onTime
- Premium$4.991 Year
MTA Mobile Ticketing
No in-app purchases







