Metrolink

I’m a graduate student at USC, and I could use a free ride pass on Metrolink for my weekly commute to riverside, since I’m in financial hardship right now. I heard something about a student adventure pass, so I downloaded the app and registered with my school email. But there was nothing; no sign of a student pass at all. What a lie; so much for this so called “student adventure pass” that does not exist apparently.

I cringe every time I open this app. Clearly the developers have no idea what they’re doing, and certainly don’t ride Metrolink. So many UX/UI issues to describe. One issue: they put all previous origin-destination purchases at the top, so you have to scroll through these before you get to your currently active ticket. They have a link to “latest schedule update”—but not the current schedule!! (And of course it’s the latest—why would anybody ever want/expect non-latest updates??). In short, this app is likely paid for by car companies to get you to stay away from the trains.

Bought a ticket to union, the trains are even running today yet it still let me purchase for today, on top of that it won’t even give me a refund!

To buy a $4 ticket I had to: download an app, guess at internal jargon (“los” doesn’t find the main station in LA), give an email address, enter 2 passwords, type a credit card, expiration, cvc, and zip code, activate a ticket, navigate through several screens to display a barcode. And then: delete the app and 2 emails it spewed. This is ridiculous compared to the subway: a few clicks to add money to a TAP card in Apple wallet.

The app has slowly improved over the years. It’s gotten a lot faster which is great, along with many improvements with UI and ease of navigation. What I hate most is that you still cannot view train schedules in app. Instead, it opens the schedule in your browser. It would be much easier and faster if you could do that. What I do like is the convenience of buying tickets online, which saves paper and you don’t have to deal with the slow and aging kiosks with outdated technology at the station (not to mention sometimes a line); also, if you’re running late you can just hop onto the train first and then buy a ticket.

What’s the point of an app where the majority of functions just open a webpage? Was anyone who takes a train consulted for this? Still can only buy tickets day of? When you type in ‘Los Angeles’ or ‘LA’ in the station search nothing comes up! What if you didn’t know about union station or to type ‘L.A.’ ? Please can someone at Metrolink go to a city with a functioning commuter rail and learn how apps and schedules and ticket buying is suppose to work? And how much does the CEO make??! Embarrassing.

I bought a ticket for the next day, thinking it’d be smart to buy the ticket ahead of time. Turns out the ticket MUST BE USED THE DAY OF, and it’s not listed ANYWHERE on the app (ONLY on the website)! It confirmed my purchase without letting me choose a date for when to buy the ticket too - which is convenient cuz u can’t actually buy it ahead of time, only the DAY OF. It’s also very difficult to get a refund - you have to wait 4-6 weeks (to only get rejected - customer service said it’s very unlikely to get a refund) Guess the train companies haven’t made enough profit, so they’re trying to get all the free money they can get. Don’t fall for their tricks like me

Please improve navigation within this app. There is no back button or tabs or anyway to move between sections. If you’re looking at your profile you have to close out the app and re-open it to get back to the other functions. Also, if you don’t remember your password, you’d have to remember to look it up under “justride.com” instead of Metrolink which is too weird.

Are used to use this app all the time, but ever since the last update, it does not work with voiceover, I have an iPhone 15 Pro, Max, and all the buttons are unlabeled, I can’t buy tickets, I can’t look at Train times, can’t do anything. I was wondering if this will be fixed in the future.

Tried to buy tickets on my new iPhone and there is no option to do so. Not sure if it’s the phone or the OS update that has caused this. Used to work fine.