This is a terrible app that must be withdrawn

I take the train between Marshall and Southern Cross Station, a terminus station with 14 or 15 platforms and hundreds of V/Line country trains, suburban trains and bus services daily. I had an app that worked (the old MetLink app). That wasn’t stellar, but it worked well enough that I didn’t need to get a paper timetable.

So imagine my continuing frustration that the most basic of use cases just doesn’t work in the complete re-write of the new app:

* I cannot find my V/Line station when standing on the station platform (!) using location search or by searching for the station in the default “Trains” mode the app comes in from the AppStore.

* It cannot find the terminus of all V/Line services – Southern Cross Station. I’m serious. In “Train” mode, you cannot search for V/Line services or stations. In “V/Line” mode, Southern Cross is not even a station (!!). You cannot find it by clicking on “Find my location” icon whilst in the station (!), and you cannot choose it from the map, and you cannot search for it. Epic fail of all epic fails. It’s like the PTV app designers chose not to walk the 40 m from their office block to the biggest and busiest station in all of Victoria and test it out.

* Modality. It’s nearly impossible to work out you can change the mode of transport you’re looking up by clicking the word “Trains” at the bottom of the screen. I am catching a “train”, but not the default type of “train”. Who knew? The thought that there are multiple types of trains obviously never entered to PTV’s UX designers. There’s no button shape or indicator, it’s just in a button bar by itself, which usually means that there are no other choices.

Honestly, PTV need to test their apps:

You should be able to find all the services within 500 m of where you are standing. Just list them all and let the filter function narrow things down in one or two keytaps.

You should be able to find ANY station or service or transport mode via text search. It’s just not that hard. There should be no difference between a regional bus, a metropolitan tram, an intercity V/Line service, or a station or bus stop. List ‘em all, and let the filter work its magic in a few keystrokes.
Get rid of modes. I don’t think of modes and I use at least two every day. Free up that wasted screen real estate and replace it with a search function that works across all modes, and services.

* You should be able to view a line’s entire timetable with no more than two or three clicks. Timetables -> scroll to the timetable or tap in enough to narrow things down -> voila. It’s not rocket science. Allow it to be a favorite.

* Planning a multi-mode trip is not rocket science. This is just not possible with the current PTV app. This might be possible if you could select stations or destinations, but Ive yet to do this because YOU CANNOT SELECT ANY STATIONS.

* The old app had notifications for the services / lines you were interested in. Please bring it back. This feature may actually be in the PTV app – I simply don’t know because I have not been able to find my station or the station at which I get off.

This app is terrible. It must be withdrawn.

vanderaj about Public Transport Victoria app, v2.0