U-M Magic Bus Reviews

Every aspect of anything resembling a normal iOS app has been reconstructed from scratch in the most unappealing and unusable way possible in UMMagicBus. While it seems like a lot of work was put in, it was the wrong type of work that ended in a convoluted app with complex actions using tools and design patterns either from 2010 or invented on the spot. Ugly colors and fonts aside, it is riddled with bugs, an unusable UI, terrible actions, and unclear instructions. Some issues include the following:
- you cannot zoom in then zoom out in the map in one gesture
- busses do not update
- scrolling is shaky and seems like it was built from scratch
- header and navigation are not functional, you cannot go back to a previous page. nothing is standardized or taking advantage of normal app development patterns
- there is a common design pattern of embedding another webpage into another
- inputting text is nearly impossible and you need to scroll to see the entire form
- unclear actions like prioritizing a bus stop number (what even is that???)
- clicking on one page will reset the map’s zoom
- i have no idea how to close models

The University can do much better. Please ditch UMMagicBus.

This is easily the worst map app I have ever used. I give DoubleMap a B+ because it had a couple issues here and there. I give UMMagicBus an F because of how terrible it is at everything it does.

The frame rate is abysmal (< 5 fps on an iPhone 11 Pro), taps take seconds to register, taps miss the buttons and press different things instead, and everything is blurry. Even basic usability like getting to the map and using it are worse. It doesn’t even show you where you are on the map! I hope they re-instate DoubleMap because UMMagicBus is nearly unusable. I’d give it zero stars if I could.

UI is confusing, UMMagicBus lags badly, it crashes randomly, and it’s difficult to look at more than one route at a time. The gigantic bus icons cover up the tiny stop icons, making it difficult or impossible to check upcoming arrivals at a given stop if there is a bus anywhere near it on the map. DoubleMap worked just fine. Not sure why we tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, especially since the “fix” is basically unusable. Put the magic bus routes back on doublemap so we can go back to what worked.

This is literally just a webpage brought up by UMMagicBus . No integration with UMMagicBus at all. Just plain garbage. DoubleMap did a better job in a smoother package.

The lag needs to be fixed. The bus locations are inaccurate. This is the third time I’ve had to switch bussing apps as the University cannot make up its mind in the 3 years I’ve been here.

Get your stuff together Michigan, go back to double map. DoubleMap is a superior service in integration, accuracy, and ease of use. More natural to users. Computer science freshman could make a more streamlined service than this pile of garbage.

I cannot think of a more awful useless app than this one. It’s so hard to use and not even accurate or helpful when you do figure out how to use it. DoubleMap wasn’t incredible, but it’s an absolute masterpiece compared to UMMagicBus and I can’t think of why the university would switch to this instead of DoubleMap. UMMagicBus is so awful it feels like just a prototype or something where someone threw a bunch of ideas into an app but didn’t add any functionality or hints for people who aren’t the creators so no one else can understand how to use it.

Every time I open UMMagicBus I have to select -> live map-> routes -> then select routes -> then click each route I want. It would be so much more efficient UMMagicBus defaulted to a live map of every bus. The live bus routes is the feature most people use and each bus is represented by a large bus icon that does nothing to tell the user which bus it is. Replace the little picture with initials or something. Additionally they are much larger than need be especially for how little information the communicate.

**my app is updated to the most recent version** I have an iPhone 6s Plus, and it could be just because my phone is old as hell, but every time I click on UMMagicBus to use it, it will open a screen that says “M Magic Bus” (basically just the design of UMMagicBus itself but as a full screen) for a few seconds and then automatically crash. Super frustrating. Double Map worked perfectly fine and there was NO reason to switch at all. I would without question give this zero stars if it was a possibility.

And my day is ruined.

This is far worse than DoubleMap, both in performance and styling. There is no theme in the colors used in UMMagicBus , and fonts differ wildly. Busses update incredibly slowly, and the icons do not inform you which bus is which. Additionally, the icons look like they were made in MS paint. It is very difficult to plan a ride with such a poorly performing and badly designed app. I, from now on, will simply wait at the bus stop and delete UMMagicBus.

This application is a joke and I am petitioning to bring back DoubleMap. You have two days.

I don’t think there is an app available that is more pathetic and more trash than this one in the entire App Store. Welcome to the University of Michigan where we create absolute trash apps for students to use. We have an amazing bus system and yet we fail to have an app that can make our lives easier to show the routes and live location of these buses. Congratulations we have trash developers.

The routes are incorrect, many show that the busses aren’t running when they clearly are, and the time estimates are blatant lies. Example: I am ON the wall st/NIB currently writing this review. Magic Bus says the WNIB isn’t running right now and if it were, it doesn’t even go to the NIB. It makes a u-turn in the cardiovascular center according to UMMagicBus’s maps. Guess they should rename the route then if the WNIB doesn’t even go to the NIB. We love UM’s software “solutions”.

Route showing no busses on it....which is funny because I’m looking at the bus right now. Also agree with other comments about the shape of the bus icons, if you’re looking at more than one route it gets cluttered. Was hoping that the Glazier Express lines would be on it as well and they’re not. UMMagicBus really needs work before they discontinue DoubleMap.

The University of Michigan is Worth over 11 billion dollars. I would sooner believe the school is using this crappy app to track it’s students than any REAL effort was put into this. Come on guys we can do better than this. Make it more user friendly. The bus icons need to be smaller/ expand as the user zooms in. The bus locations should be consistent. All around just poorly executed.

DoubleMap was way better there are loads of problems with UMMagicBus.

The drop down menu for the bus routes is oddly placed and ineffective. (You can only see 10 routes at once? There are only 12 routes why is this a thing?).

The bus locations are not accurate at all—way more delay in true location than DoubleMap.

Get this through your head: No one uses anything except the map which shows the routes. Make this feature better and forget about the rest please.

DoubleMap was better in every way... please go back.

Jesus, even Billy Magic is confused by UMMagicBus. Google Maps does a better job. Like.. this is the website. You didn’t even try. The website’s klunky and not fun to use on the phone, so porting it over to an app with minimal changes is still leaving me hella confused.
This is definitely the Michigan Difference, huh?

Magic bus is a mess to be honest.

One of the many things I don’t like about it is how i can’t view multiple routes. If I’m looking at a bus route and it gives me six minutes to walk to bus route that I can’t make it too, then UMMagicBus becomes ultimately useless for me.

They should include a drop down menu of the other extra few times the bus will be coming within the next hour.

In addition it’s both slower and glitchy. For some reason it feels like we’re using a desktop interface on a mobile phone.

App is absolute garbage. Half of the icons don’t work. Super lazy design with bus symbols on the live map. Sometimes when you click a route sometimes just no busses show up. Looks like a third grader made it and it’s much worse than double maps was. And double maps barely worked half the time so that’s saying something

It's just a web wrapper for a really bad website. The features are there, but they're horribly implemented in a clunky, terrible UI. UMMagicBus is slow to start and throws you into the menu instead of the map every time you open it. Someone please use the API to make an actual app!

Nothing works. No one answers the phone.
I have to delete and reinstall UMMagicBus every single day because all I get is a blue screen with nothing on it. Oh excuse me, sometimes it’s a white screen. With nothing on it!
Please bring back the old magic bus!!!

If I have to still use the bus despite the COVID-19 outbreak on campus, it would be great to do it without having to wait in the cold air trying to figure out which bus to take after using like 30 clicks to check only two routes and then missing the bus...

UMMagicBus hasn’t been optimized for newer iPhones like X, Xs and 11. The overall interface feels like it’s designed for a computer with a mouse, not a touch screen. Some of the new features are cool, but are hidden behind a poor navigation system.

I am the first one to write a 5 stars review in UMMagicBus! xD Yeahhhh😁 this is my first time to make a first 5 star review in app shop in my life!!😀Nice😍

But UMMagicBus is just completely useless
not reliable at all

UMMagicBus is just a web wrapper for the MBus tracker website. I’d love to see an improvement in both features and usability over DoubleMap, as both apps have their problems.

UMMagicBus tries to be all fancy to find the “best route” when sometimes you just want to be able to track the buses in real time. It’s a shame they are getting rid of double maps for UMMagicBus.

Significant delay on real time location of the bus compare to DoubleMap. Need label the bus with name of route for easy identification. The new app need to be better or at least the same quality as the old app.

UMMagicBus does show the bus routes in real time, but the user interface is clunky and outdated. Use DoubleMap if you want to see the same data for the Umich bus routes in a much more user-friendly way.

The UI is extremely clunky.

UMMagicBus doesn't show buses at times even though the routes are selected.

The way buses are represented isn't great either as you have to know which color stands for what.

Bring back DoubleMap. UMMagicBus is incredible laggy, UMMagicBus doesn’t refresh quite as quickly as double map, and there’s just too much going on.

Go back to the basic format of double map, it was much simpler and easier to use.

This is awful. Very slow, was not ready to be released. DoubleMap was working good, we didn’t need to fix what wasn’t broken. Bring back DoubleMap.

UMMagicBus is terrible. Considering how essential this is to students daily lives, UMMagicBus needs to be fixed so that it is usable.