Translinks mLink

Cheaper tickets and all available on your phone, what’s there to complain about, also it means you don’t need to worry about losing a paper ticket, great app

The app has multiple little bugs and some big shortcomings. When you click travel / route planner it asks you download another app. It doesn’t auto flip between bus and train even when you select the desired option. There is no way to reserve a seat or even to book a ticket for a specific day. And the biggest major defect - if you purchase a ticket the day prior to travel, ie planning your travel in advance, the ticket expires at 0400 on the day of travel and is therefore invalid. And there is no mechanism to get a refund by phone or on the app. Really very poor! It’s 2024 Translink, not 2004. Get yourselves updated. For example, have a look at CityMapper or Trainline or Transport for London and see what a half decent app looks like. This is not rocket science or anything new.

Most of the time the trains come late but even when they’re not they are early and leave before the train is even meant to arrive so you end up missing it.

Can’t book the 651a route I want.

Would it be possible to update the app so there are not massive black borders at the top and bottom? I think most app developers adjusted their apps when the larger screens on iPhones were introduced about ten years ago 🤔

Can’t buy a ticket to Ards from Bangor? Cheers for nothing

Please make this better to use! Why have two apps for timetables & tickets? The station search function is pitiful.

Possibly the most confusing UX I’ve experienced in an app so far. Not only do you need to find the service you need to take through the app (you can’t search by start or destination) but you have to “activate” your ticket for it to work. Tickets are only valid for a limited time after activation, which means money can be wasted if your bus doesn’t turn up (it happens frequently with the service I take). Some tickets also auto-activate upon purchase. Whenever somebody comes to visit me, I have to help them to use the app if they want to use the bus.

How ugly is this thing. Translink needs to do better.

Hate how a neon countdown appears when you buy your ticket. Terrifying! Also no accommodation (at least I can’t work it out) for inputting more than one destination as if everyone uses the bus for only one route….