The Official MTA App 4+

Looks nice, but old app was much easier and more reliable/accurate

The layout of this new app is far busier and requires more taps to get the same information as the old app/web platform. For a tourist not in a hurry, that information can be useful, but for a native NYer who needs to get someplace now, fumbling through an app to find the same information can mean missing a train, bus, or transfer.

However, the worst part is that estimated arrival times are more often than not, completely wrong. Trains and buses in the app that don’t exist, arrival times being 3-5 minutes off, and travel times between stops completely incorrect (too long or too short). Cross checking with the train arrival signs in stations or at bus stops and checking the web app show me that this app is the issue and somehow is working off different algorithms or data sets to estimate timing. The web app has become quite good and overwhelmingly is the most reliable for arrival times.

I’ve resorted to using the web app, because while not perfect, it’s by comparison 5 stars over this. I look forward to some fast updates to fix, at the very least, the missing and incorrect arrival times.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your comments. Your feedback is important to us as we continue to improve the product in future releases.

If it ain’t broke…

Why would you completely change the app? I used to be able to open the app, click on the subway line I needed, scroll down and see when the train was coming. Now there are so many added steps. I have to keep switching to my favorites tab instead of my favorite lines just being there when I open the app, click past a service change alert page and change the direction I need to see EVERYtime. Then I have to push the stop times up to fill the screen because for some reason they added a huge unnecessary map on the subway page. Also the train times are gone. It used to say the scheduled time a train was coming as well as how many minutes away it was. Now it just says how many minutes. We have limited time when trying to catch a train. I just need to open it, make 1 or 2 clicks and see when the train is coming. I used to be able to do that. This new app takes too much to navigate. The whole user interface is just unnecessarily clunky and not user friendly. Simple is always better. I never used the bus part of the app for this same reason and always chose to use the web browser. Now you’ve ruined the subway part. The only positive is that it now supports dark mode. I wish I’d never updated. Please change it back.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback. We just updated the app so that you can now set your preferred default tab. Go to More > Tab Settings to set which tab displays when you come back to the app later. The app now also remembers where you were within the Explore and Status tabs. We appreciate your patience as we continue to make updates to the app.

Inaccurate and difficult to navigate

I agree with asnow1190.
I know that developing an app takes a lot of work, but the old app was much easier to navigate, clearly laid out, and the arrival times were much more accurate- I’ve missed trains because of this new app. It is extremely difficult to find what should be standard information: for example, searches don’t always yield results (this could be due to needing the station written in a specific way instead of common names) and separate transit systems are visually lumped together at hub stations.

While the new app looks nice aesthetically, it’s visually crowded and it’s difficult to parse out any detail. This feedback is not about getting used to a new app. As much as I use it, I should be a pro at it by now- the fact that I’m not speaks to the lack of user-friendliness. Perhaps the app developers can take a look at the old app and integrate what worked into this app.