Denver Transit: RTD Bus TImes 4+

Impressed

This is a great improvement over the past apps. It runs almost like the transit app. I like the bus numbers. Sometimes I still use the transit app because it gives all of the buses in the area and the times they are going to arrive. This helps me to decide which corner of the intersection to go to if I missed one bus. It would be nice to have instructions as how to do things for those who are not intuitive. The destinations of the buses and the bus numbers are very helpful. Sometimes it would be nice to have the buses GPS to be updated a little more frequently. The number of RTD apps is confusing when looking for the most up to date one.

No way to contact & routing needs to be improved

Problem #1 is that their in-app “Send Feedback” page doesn’t allow you to submit your message, so there is no way to contact them without digging on the internet to try and find contact info.

Proble #2: I wasted my time finding their website and typing out a message only to encounter another error with their contact form - HTTP 401 on their own form submission to their own site. If they can’t even maintain their basic website, I have no hopes for the app to be improved.

Now, on to the app:
The routing could use an refactor.

For a trip from North Boulder to Union Station, a chosen route taking the 204 to FF2, why do you have the trip transfer at Broadway and 20th instead of the downtown boulder station?

One reason to do this is to ensure that one can get on the FF2 with luggage or a bicycle. Another benefit is that when people board the FF2 at the station while the bus is just sitting idle is that the trip times will decrease with less people getting on the bus mid-route, decreasing dwell time.

Making apps for public transportation should not just check a list of features, it should be tested and thought out to the actual experience. Otherwise it’s just another app in the App Store.

Addict and Homeless Mobile Home Transit

The smell of urine and diarrhea is often overwhelming. You’ll get skin rashes and diseases sitting on the seats. The air is usually filled with smoke - not just cigarette and weed smoke - hard drugs. You’ll get an instant headache. People shoot up in the open too. Half the riders are free riding homeless and drug dealers and addicts. Security doesn’t kick them off or write tickets. Instead they hang out at stops and share drugs.

More than half the time, the train is late or canceled. And yet sometimes it’ll leave 5 minutes earlier, leaving you hanging for the next one that may or may not show. Rarely is it actually on the actual schedule. Amd good luck figuring out the schedule, because the app is usually completely different than the schedule on the station signs.

All this and bloated overstaffed and overfunded RTD get a 3% chunk of sales tax along the route, county and city taxes, plus high fares.

Developer Response ,

Sorry about that - doesn't sound like a great experience. We do everything we can to provide accurate information, and we get that information from local transit agencies like RTD.