Public Transport Victoria app 4+

I've found this pretty helpful as I'm visiting my home town after a few years. The only thing I've found a bit strange is when you view your progress on its map, it seems to think you're in a car and goes down roads and around corners as it's progressing! Also instead of leaving the app when accessing maps, this could easily have been an "in app" option.

We are told to download this app to be notified of delays and cancellations. Well, we are almost never notified. Usually, I find out because I walk all the way to my stop, only to find a laminated sign saying the stop is experiencing cancellations, disruptions, or delays. At the very least, could PTV not text us this information?

Many times I have checked the timetable ahead of time - but then, at the exact time my bus has arrived, it suddenly informs me that my buses are no longer running tonight, leaving me stranded.

If the bus is late - as they usually are - it is not uncommon for the app to display that the it is here “NOW” - only for the bus to show up five minutes later, after which you’ve decided to walk on from your stop, because you assume the bus has been cancelled - causing you to needlessly miss it.

The top up function works about half the time. When it decides not to work, I am forced to fade evade and take the bus to the train station. So I can top up my myki there. So I can take the bus back from the train station.

What function, then, does this app even serve?

Also, PTV, why do you charge us $9 for a student ID, when it is literally a photocopied printed piece of paper? I was once fined ~$150 for presenting my official student card, you know, with the photo ID and RFID, and which cost me nothing, and whose details you literally copied into the PTV ID, instead of your stupid $9 laminated piece of paper.

It does what it’s supposed to do so can’t complain about that, but I’m finding many bugs and glitches with bus routes. It’ll change certain bus stops’ directions if I have them on my favourites, giving me false hope that I have time to catch the next bus.. but then I realise it’s saying the ETA for the stop going the opposite way and I’ll discover I’ve got 20+ minutes to wait for the bus I was supposed to be catching. I also am struggling with the fact that the GPS location for buses and where they are in real time, doesn’t seem to be functional anymore. I’m putting 3 stars because, when the app is functional, it’s very handy, but at the time of writing this, it’s 2 stars tops for me as it’s not very user friendly at this point in time. UX is difficult though, so hopefully in time I’ll be able to amend this. 🖤