An Acceptable Start, But A Half Hearted App – VRE Mobile Review

The good: The app is setup for purchasing tickets right off the bat, which is excellent, as this is what most people will use the app for and the system to do so is clear, simple, and easy to use. The bad: Those tickets you do purchase are saved on your phone, meaning you can’t uninstall the app without losing all your tickets. It’s nonsensical that I have to create an account for a service that doesn’t actually store the information about purchases related to my account. Those purchases should be linked to my account, on a server, and therefore accessible from any device I sign into. If the concern is getting to the tickets without an internet connection, first off data connection are essentially ubiquitous, and second, there is always an option of downloading the ticket to your phone when you do have internet before you set off. Second, there are, for all intents and purposes, no other functions to this app. The trip tools button is simply a link back to the VRE site which is just lazy programming. It is especially bad given that the VRE website is essentially stuck in 2001 and complicated and difficult enough to navigate on a laptop or desktop, let alone on a small mobile screen having to sort through myriad links to try and find what you’re looking for. The site desperately needs to be updated to be more aesthetically pleasing, intuitive, and user friendly. Plus, as there is no option to buy tickets on the site, no real interactive travel map showing trip times, maintenance, delays, etc. the trip tools link leads you to little useful information. This app could be extremely useful, and the ability to buy and use tickets through your phone without having to go to vendors that are off site from stations and get paper tickets is already a big improvement from the old system, but to make this app really useful both it and the website desperately need an overhaul to bring the into the modern day and provide all of the tools and functionality that are available on other transit apps and websites.
Review by Grogboshieee on VRE Mobile.