Unfair fares: Calgary Transit customers call for improvements to MyFare app after payment glitches

Transit app gets mixed reviews A transit app that cost over $5 million is receiving mixed reviews from transit riders. Mark Villani reports.

CALGARY — An transit ticket app that cost millions to develop has some users crying foul over the technology’s bugs and shortcomings.

The $5.5 million application developed by Masabi is available on the Google Play or Apple Store. It was launched last summer as a way to give Calgarians the ability to purchase transit fares online and further eliminate contact point amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, frequent CTrain riders like Misty Lawrence say connection issues have resulted in payments taking away her money without providing her with the fare she paid for.

“I just feel like it glitches a lot,” Lawrence said.

“A lot of the times you purchase a ticket and it doesn’t come through on the exact date, it just fails and that’s really annoying.”

Meanwhile, some customers say the application has wrongly charged them for certain passes they don’t wish to buy.

“I’ve almost bought a monthly bus pass twice now and I make minimum wage, I can’t afford that when I’ve got rent and everything else,” said Azaria Puhl-Trinh.

“Single tickets also expire in seven days and people are having issues with that because you’re potentially wasting money.”

The seven-day expiry of single-use tickets is an issue many Calgarians have expressed concern with, but Calgary Transit says it’s in place as a safeguard for customers.

“The seven-day expiry of tickets that are unused is one of those things that we had to implement as a fraud prevention,” said Stephen Tauro, communications and information lead with Calgary Transit.

“It’s actually very generous in terms of days as compared to many of the other agencies that we spoke with so we felt that that was a good number to land on. We encourage customers to utilize the technology of the app, the best convenient component of it is that you can buy it on the fly and that’s the key part is don’t hoard the tickets, just buy what you need and use them as you go.”

ISSUES PURCHASING PAPER TICKETS & PASSES

Some Calgarians still however like the flexibility of purchasing multiple paper tickets and passes the old-fashioned way.

Transit rider, Audrey spoke with CTV News Friday while waiting for her train and said she couldn’t find passes at multiple convenience or grocery stores.

“It’s kind of a hit or miss,” she said. “Same with full month-long bus tickets so some have them some don’t and if not you have to go get change and if you don’t get change, you can’t get on the bus.”

Calgary Transit says that passes are frequently re-stocked at stores and the company won’t be cutting back on paper tickets anytime soon.

“We recognize that customers need as many options to pay as possible and providing that paper option is very important to customers, we’ve heard that very clearly and there’s no plans to get rid of it,” Tauro said.

Audrey also added that she doesn’t like using the app because it doesn’t provide bus or CTrain wait times. She says the Calgary Transit website is often inaccurate when reporting times for busses, which has led to her missing her ride multiple times.

“You never know when your actual train or bus is coming,” Audrey said. “When you look in the app and it says five minutes, the bus is always early, the train is always early and you miss it.”

IMPROVEMENTS ON THE WAY

Calgary Transit says it recognizes there are concerns with the functionality of phone applications, but teams are continuing to work on improvements.

"I think as a whole Calgary Transit is exploring a technology roadmap to try to integrate all of these app services, it is a stand-alone app right now but the future of transit and transportation is really just combining as many options for customers as possible,” Tauro said.

“We’re also looking at combining some form of trip planning and payment into the app, but as it stands today those are two separate platforms.”

Tauro adds that anyone who has payment issues with the application can the Calgary Transit call line at 403-262-1000.

Despite issues customers have with tickets expiring too fast, glitches and wait times, many Calgarians are still pleased with the accessibility of the MyFare app.

Calgary father Gerardo Loachmin says the application has gotten him out of a bind more often than not.

“Sometimes we don’t have cash so it works having the app on us,” he said. “I’d give it a five out of five rating.”

Others like Bikramgit Grewal say the app is very accessible and has improved his daily trips on the CTrain.

“It’s easy to use, all you have to do is tap and you can pay,” he said.