Transit GO Ticket Reviews

by Ianianiang

It’s stupefying that THIS is Metro’s app offering for buying Seattle Metro bus fare. The functionality and usefulness would be right at home in 2007. No ability to carry a purse or buy a monthly bus pass. It doesn’t even interact with the Orca system - it’s a SEPARATE SYSTEM that doesn’t communicate across Sound Transit, King County Metro, or Link Light Rail. The bureaucracy of this decision can only be described as divorced from reality.

Not only is this absolutely useless to daily commuters, but the work and slog required to get it up and running and use it causes me embarrassment for visitors to Seattle. Oh - if you accidentally click on the ticket you just bought, you just used it up. All the transportation offerings collectively moving over to the Orca card, and then giving us THIS - WA transportation agencies - what are you thinking?! Give us a mobile Orca app already!

(To the developer - it’s not your fault, we know you only do what the client asks you to do. Sorry to criticize your work)

by 51n7

Got TransitGOTicket to use while visiting Seattle. I was able to install TransitGOTicket and it worked until I purchased my ticket. After my purchase TransitGOTicket would not open, it goes to a splash screen and then it fails back to my home screen. This was incredibly frustrating and embarrassing because the bus arrived, I got in line to aboard, app crashed over and over, meanwhile holding up others behind me. I eventually was forced to explain this whole story to the bus driver and showing my receipt that was emailed as proof.

!! WARNING !!
TransitGOTicket can constantly crash once you make your first ticket purchase and you can't remove your credit card info once your in the endless crash loop. Use at your own risk

by Squirrelllle

DO NOT USE! After activating a ticket, it will vanish before you have a chance to show it to the bus driver if it’s been more than a minute since you activated it. The activated ticket can not be retrieved. You will have no way to prove you paid your fare and will have to buy another ticket when you board the bus!
The reason I activated my ticket a couple minutes before my bus arrived is because TransitGOTicket is really slow - even TransitGOTicket is already running, and if you’ve pre-purchased your tickets, it takes over 20 seconds just to activate an available ticket- causing you to hold up the bus if you try to do it when you board the bus.

by Wordoodle

Same company as the transit app for Austin but way less user friendly. I never got lost using the Austin version. With Seattle’s version, I couldn’t find a stop and luckily went early so I walked an extra 8 blocks to where I luckily found one. Tried analyzing the map next attempt and the route lines go through a playground.

Although it is changing to the same rate, currently there are different ticket prices for during rush hour and outside of rush hour but I had to find those ‘peak hours’ on another website.

You also can’t purchase more than a single ride ticket. No all day, week, or month. I’ve lived in several cities and all have offered all these options. Maybe you can get other fares with a card from the transit store, I don’t know.

Even more confusing, you’re single ride ticket does work for specific other buses for I believe two hours and the only way to know what those routes are is to get a tear off list from the driver upon boarding.

Just bike if you can. Seattle is super biker friendly. Transit commuter? Not so much.

by Sleep Deprived In Seattle

Good example of, when an app has little competition, as in endorsed by the government entity, it seriously lacks user experience testing. When I first used it, I went to buy my first ticket, and it defaulted me to buying the ticket in store. It didn’t inform me that I first needed to enter a payment method before attempting to buy a ticket. Then on the second use, I tried to set an arrival time for my destination in the trip planner, and TransitGOTicket shut down. Come on Seattle Transit, you can do way better.

by Circadian-slip

I’m really glad that a solution like this exists finally, and for the most part is has been extremely convenient using TransitGOTicket vs using an orca card. Getting tickets is seamless, and using them is almost as easy as scanning your orca card (you just have to tap the screen once you have activated ticket to show the bus driver the color of the days’ ticket).

But with new apps as always, there tend to be some growing pains.

I would argue the main issue with TransitGOTicket is what the title of this review suggests. Its a huge issue, not to mention an embarrassment, opening TransitGOTicket to purchase a ticket, but then all of a sudden you are automatically logged out randomly and you have to explain to the bus driver who doesn’t have the time of day to understand what you are talking about.

It’s a very frustrating UX to deal with, especially if you relying on TransitGOTicket to use 3 transfers for example.

Developers: If this is a security measure, please choose to implement Face ID or Touch ID in place of having to enter in an email address and password. It takes less than a second to do, and is arguably even more secure. But even then, I’m not at all convinced having to enter in your email and password is in any way necessary. That 10-20 seconds of time savings is crucial when you are a pedestrian relying on public transit.

Otherwise, I’m overall thankful that an app like this exists.

by Erik11111

Gives you routes and directions for how to take the bus from outside locations into Seattle, but beware that the tickets are ONLY for King County Metro buses. They don’t work for the 510 or 520 from Everett or any of the other Community Transit buses.
The route creator is pretty good, but a back button to just change the time rather than creating an entirely new search for each time you want adjust part of the search would be great. It would also be nice if you could save your route.

by Tendea

Super convenient and great when it works. There are a couple of issues such as logging out automatically at the worst possible times (logging out as soon as the bus pulled, up go figure.) Another issue too is that it seems to have connection issues as well, even when I’m able to load web pages and look at email, it often get a network error.

A small thing as well is that the color scheme and logo look very similar to the Sound Transit bus which TransitGOTicket does NOT work on.

by D11365

TransitGOTicket is easy to use and makes it super quick to pay for fares without fishing out a card or cash, or worse, stopping at a ticket machine. TransitGOTicket has all ticket and pass types (well, at least those that tourists/visitors would use)

The only annoying thing I encountered was when purchasing tickets, an error message around connectivity would appear and it would misleadingly say that my credit card wasn’t charged. It was and the ticket appeared on TransitGOTicket , so be careful and double check before buying another ticket, esp if you are in the area for just a few days.

by YungATDMoore

The bugs and the glitches currently in TransitGOTicket are making it difficult to use tickets that are purchased. Have to literally refresh 3-4 times just to be able to see the tickets that are available. This never happened until the last update with TransitGOTicket happened. Please fix these issues!

by Waffle_cookie

Whatever bug the other reviews mentioned was either fixed or for some reason didn't happen to me. The ticket functions like a pretty versatile transfer slip (that's also accepted on Sound Transit buses). You show it to the driver as you board.

All in all, functional for casual riders or for those in a pinch who lose or empty their orca card or don't have enough change.

by Darryl In The NoVAs

iPhone 6 on iOS 10. No problems as others have complained. TransitGOTicket did take a few seconds to start, pull up my ticket and activate, so don't wait until you're boarding the bus to do this. Otherwise, it works just fine.

The trip planner could be improved since it's just a mobile interface to their website, which I don't think is the most user friendly. At least being able to auto populate your location would be an improvement. If the location crosshair icon was supposed to do this, I couldn't get it to do anything.

Until ORCA goes completely virtual, TransitGOTicket is great for the infrequent traveler without a card.

by Rayearthpoison

Downloaded it today because I refused to buy another $5 Orca card when I have two floating around from previous travels. I was a little confused but I found you CAN add a credit card and buy bus tickets for different buses that run through Seattle. The Metro fare does come with a two hour live transfer, which is neat.

The only thing that TransitGOTicket is missing is the ability to register the ORCA card and add money on to it. Other major US cities have started implementing this such as Ventra in Chicago.

by Needs To Meet Please

TransitGOTicket works great and is super convenient for what it does..

It does have a major flaw in which you can’t purchase Sound Transit or Community Transit bus tickets. That’s really inconvenient for a lot of people including myself. I take King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit busses to get to and from work on my commute. As you can imagine, when I don’t have enough change, it’s frustrating that TransitGOTicket is only useful for one of my buses.

by Tamnoon

UPDATE: The crashing issue I was experiencing has apparently been fixed. I successfully activated a ticket today without issue. Thanks to the developer for their response, help, and refund for lost ticket.

Same problem as other recent reviewers. App crashes when trying to activate ticket. Reinstalling app causes any tickets you had to be locked and unusable. TransitGOTicket is broken - DO NOT INSTALL UNTIL BYTEMARK ADDRESSES THIS!

by Shiro’s Dream's

I used TransitGOTicket on my first time out using public transportation. It activated as expected without any issues. However, there could be better improvements done about the interface and navigation/activation speed. Both the metro bus driver and fare enforcer on the Link train did not hassle me with issues or questioning squints, they gave it a quick glance and acknowledged it with a nod (beginners luck?). All in all, a very useful tool that seems to successfully improve through each update since release. Very great and highly recommend!

by Grizjak

I am extremely grateful to Seattle Metro and their Access bus system and especially their drivers for offering and accepting their individual GO tickets. I don’t ride the Access disabled bus enough to justify the expense of a monthly Orca card and I hate carrying cash around so the GO tickets were an excellent idea and choice! Thank you Metro and Access!

by Tgr7318

Used TransitGOTicket throughout the week I visited Seattle. Purchasing bus tickets through TransitGOTicket was smooth and convenient, and you don't have to deal with counting change for the bus. It also makes transferring buses easy. Didn't experience any of the bugs in the earlier reviews. Overall a great option for visitor who don't want to purchase an Orca card to ride public transit.

by Sreecharan S

Looks like the recent bug fixes have made TransitGOTicket a lot better. It’s responsive and easy to use. Of course, I’d like more support figuring out what tickets to actually buy and more accurate routing but I have been managing those outside of TransitGOTicket. TransitGOTicket is currently just a wallet for tickets and serves that role well enough.

by Superglam206

I had to let my kid borrow my orca card and I only had a $20 bill while on my way to work. Happened to google an alternate way to pay. Found TransitGOTicket and used it within minutes. Saved me from having to scramble to find a retail shop to get change. My driver recognized TransitGOTicket ticket and all is good!! Glad to have it as a back-up!

by Paulcone

The first two reviews nail it. There are two different systems – don’t try and use TransitGOTicket on a Sound Transit bus, or else the bus driver will tell you don’t show me that. And if you’re lucky he’ll let you on for free if you don’t have cash. And second, yes it will just randomly log you out. But who cares you can’t use it on Sound Transit anyway so you just wasted $2.75. Portland TriMet takes Apple Pay. Why is Portland more technologically advanced than Seattle?

by Treasurefolk

Worked pretty good until the day I was at a stop and needed to go downtown. Stupid streetcar doesn’t show up when it should so I have to take the bus instead or wait 10 more minutes. Well already bought the streetcar ticket (you have to be ready to board) so now I buy the bus ticket as well. Happened to me twice. Finally ordered the orca card as we are staying a couple of months. Now it doesn’t matter who shows up bus or streetcar. Also I barely made it on a Sound transit bus at the Federal Way station. Tried to use TransitGOTicket with a transfer ticket as I just got off another bus. Luckily the driver was nice to us and explained it’s two different systems and let us on anyway. It can be confusing to a newcomer so once again the orca card will be fine to use on Sound Transit. TransitGOTicket works for a visit to Seattle. Just be aware of what you are boarding- Sound or Metro. You will need something else if it’s Sound, TransitGOTicket won’t work.