SmarTrip 4+

It’s hard to overstate how terrible this app is. TL;DR: after I finish this review I’m deleting it. I found it significantly easier to just use the plastic card and even gave up my attempt to use the app to recharge my card: going to a station and using a credit card was so much easier. For the nerds who care, the reason is that the input checking is buggy and rigid. For example, I had to give “today” as my date of birth, since it simply rejected my attempt to enter my birth month. Later, with some help, I figured out if I tried to enter my birth month, a few months later than the present month, the app would think I was trying to choose a birthday in the future and reject it. You can only reliably enter a birthdate if you start with the year (which is on the right) and work back to the month. This is only an example: the app is riddled with this kind of bad coding. And everywhere instead of letting you correct something it doesn’t like, it wipes the entry and makes you start over. In summary, stay away: got a stored value card and recharge it at stations. It’s a stinker

our app uses. If you have any additional questions please give us a call at 888.762.7874 (M—F, 7 am—8 pm) -KB

Asks for way more personal info than it needs for metro rides, in my opinion — there’s no way you need my address, phone number, and email just to sell me a train ticket, not to mention only the email actually needs to be accurate to get in and buy a ticket (leading me to believe it’s the only thing you should actually ask users to enter — why take the risk of storing additional PI if you don’t need it? Maybe phone is fine for MFA, but there isn’t MFA, so ??). Lack of autocomplete is frustrating — should just be an additional attribute you add to inputs, no? Had to suffer the registration forms twice because the validation on the email field broke when I tried to use Apple Hide My Email, and it wouldn’t let me continue even after entering a valid email. Bought two tickets because the UI was super unclear where my purchased ticket landed.

You can buy a virtual card directly in Apple Wallet. When you register your card, you are protecting your balance by providing the optional security information. Thanks for the additional details. Our developers use this feedback for future updates. -KB

The app makes it near impossible to efficiently scan multiple passes from Apple wallet. Been in DC 7 months and have yet to meet a WMATA employee that cares about their job or knows how to talk to human beings without being degrading or unprofessional, let alone understand how the app works. Today one literally told me “no close that app and use Google.”

If you’re going to use the Metro and do SmartTrip just carry physical cards for other members of your family or have them put their own card on their app/phone. Otherwise Uber/Lyft bc the WMATA employees don’t care or even know how to make this app work.

Sorry to hear about your experience Jonny. Your virtual cards are in your Google Wallet and not in the SmarTrip app. The station manager was correct in informing you to use your Google Wallet. If you have issues with any of our staff while traveling please let us know by completing the online form at wmata.com/contactus -KB