STA Connect Reviews

Seems like the opportune time to do this. As I write this, I’m standing in the Spokane Transit Authority terminal. Why am I standing in the bus plaza? Because for the 4th time this week, my bus was late. Let me ask something, STA…if it takes 50 minutes to get from Sprague and Farr to the plaza, and then to SFCC…why do I routinely need to leave for my bus 2 hours early? Why are your busses so late so often? Why are they so cold and miserable? Using Google now results in nuclear waste thanks to their foray into the power world. How clean is taking the bus if you have to generate nuclear waste to do it? It would be nice if STAConnect allowed more functional use, for instance if I need to know what time to catch a bus, why do I need to scroll al the way to the end of the schedule, and then BACKTRACK to wherever my stop is? The schedule is not a fixed image on screen so half the time as I’m swiping FROM LAST STOP ALL THE WAY BACK TO FIRST I end up swiping away from the screen entirely.
As far as I can tell none of the money the STA makes actually goes into maintaining or improving its infrastructure. Out of the 19 different public transports I have used in my life, this one hands down is the worst with a garbage app. Don’t give STA money. Don’t vote to increase the budget they blow every year on things like toys and constant air conditioner on their buses when it’s only 22 degrees outside.

Laughable excuse for an app, literally nothing on it works, can’t add money to cards, maps barely work, constantly logs you out and requires an overly complicated password for an app that is just supposed to make taking city transit easier. Fire everyone involved with the coding and creating of STAConnect.

The bus driver has to constantly let me on the bus for free because it keeps saying declined when I scan my QR code even though it clearly shows I have a $100 balance I put on there! Ridiculous and embarrassing for me!

It keeps saying all the busses are “end of day” when they’re still running

one in thirty two times it’ll screw you over and sign you out so make sure to open it like 10 minutes in advance just in case.

I’ve been trying to use the trip planner feature which is pretty much the most important feature for three days and it’s never loaded from the button prompt

I went to reload money on my card. It told me something went wrong with my purchase yet it still charged my card. So this is the second time it charged my card but it didn’t give me the funds. I guess I have to try to call my bank now

It’s a good Idea to have a transit app but this one doesn’t work well. The card doesn’t often work and it’s prone to failure. STAConnect doesn’t function better than a website and as such it’s hard to understand why anyone would use it.

STAConnect is low quality as Spokane’s transit system. Lots of novice mistakes when building an app were made. No way to delete previous payment options which are then defaulted to preventing auto-reload from ever working. Internal memory is probably being misused not allowing preferences to be saved.

Took $15 dollars from me, never loaded it to my card. STA customer service told me I need to just wait because it may be a delay in processing. But nothing still. Wish Spokane could just actually put some effort into public transport instead of using the absolute cheapest options all the time.

It will not send you a link to reset your password after your session has “expired”. I had forgotten my password, and for months it would not send me an email. I finally had to call the actual STA number and talk to a real person to have the link sent my way. At least we got it done.

It isn’t allowing me to unlock my card

If you’re a rider in need of one ride with transfer—like most—pay the $2 in cash as this allows to transfer for the next two hours.This is how fare capping works now, it means you always pay four dollars for every ride requiring a transfer.Which is less expensive than it is _terribly_ annoying.

Because the passes are free it wont let me scan my pass because their is no money on the card

Ride all the time. One suggestion- if rider use the auto load feature warn them to add their new credit card before the current one expires or auto load will pause. Also you need to make it easier to update your expiration date. I had to make a new payment option. I would have given you 5 stars otherwise.

On apple I am unable to use my sta card with my phone. I can add money onto the card but if I left my card at home I cant use my phone as the card.

STAConnect works. Haven’t had any issues. Would love to see these things added:
-Ability to add pass to wallet and use NFC / express mode (faster than barcode)
-Ability to use Apple Pay
-Integration with college IDs for free access

STAConnect does what it’s supposed to do, no questions asked. I generally have a hard time with the QR code scanners, which means others typically wait for me. I also sometimes don’t pay for rides, not due to me taking advantage of the system but because it takes to long to find the positioning for the QR code to scan, and the bus driver is usually like, go sit down, you’re good. If you want to fix the QR code, use regular QR code features, you only have one positioning square, others have 3, making it almost impossible not to get a perfect scan no matter what.
Also, the technology you use for the STA cards is fairly straightforward to setup in STAConnect as most phone now have NFC functionality, so would actually just be easier to use that if you have to keep the current QR system.