Recently I had an occasion where I needed to get downtown for a doctors appointment. Usually I will get a ride from someone. This was an occasion where I only had a lift to the light rail station. I found that trying to figure out how to work the ticket machine would always be an aggravating headache that was sure to make you miss your train. Now there’s Zip-Pass where you can buy a ticket in advance, online, at your leisure, download it to your phone and store it there and when you need it, call it up, activate it, and present it when asked. Easy Peasy! How cool is that?

This app has been the greatest thing for me to be able to ride the bus without having to worry about if there is an available kiosk to purchase a ticket. Several stations now have the kiosks shut down. Unfortunately one can never know if it is available or not. This has been a hassle free way of getting a ticket no matter where I am riding. Plus I no longer have to fumble around with things I am carrying around to make a purchase at the kiosk or on the buses. I also love that I can purchase extra tickets and store them in the cloud for my daughter when she needs to get to and from work. She is signed into my account and activates her pass onto her device. So convenient especially when the distance between us was an issue. I wish there was a way to make it work without data or WiFi. My daughter has experienced not having access to a ticket when she didn’t have service. While there is open WiFi on the transit vehicles, we are not fully comfortable in using it due to such high risk nowadays on public networks. If there is a way to make the app available without having an active service I would love to know how. We’ve made it work though. It can be a bit slow so I always suggest that as soon as you see your particular transit coming activate it immediately rather than when the transit arrives. However, all in all, I am glad it is offered and it definitely makes riding SacRT, and Yolobus a lot smoother.

I love this app because it makes it so easy to buy. Bus passes and Paratransit passes. It’s so much more convenient than having to have cash on hand. My only big problem has been that a couple times and his claim there is a problem with the credit card I’m using, even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with the credit card. I basically had to uninstall the app reinstall it and put in my info again. Very frustrating. I guess if I had known that before going through all the trouble to try and figure out what could possibly be wrong with my card it might make me feel a little better.

Some benefits to the mobile app and using an electronic pass is you can purchase your tickets on the app unlike before where you had to find a customer service center to purchase a paper bus pass. The convenience and simplicity of buying them on the app is remarkable. No more long lines to purchase tickets or buying them at the light rail station and nearly missing your train. I would recommend having it before getting on train because like years ago, the passes are checked more often than not. I’m glad we can purchase tickets on the app for convenience. It helps out with busy lives.