MTA TrainTime Customer Service

MTA service improvements in recent months have been a big plus to riders. The Train Time app is now very user-friendly and it is easy to navigate among the varied functions eg train time departures and arrivals, track numbers, train/train line status, ticket prices, best cost deal suggestions, and ticket purchases. Confusing graphics and ambiguous icons have been eliminated. The only issue is that the “window” for ticket purchases contains graphics that prominently display the icon for use of Apple Pay to make purchases which is clearly to the disadvantage of consumers. MTAs train service is very much improved insofar as on time service and absence of delays and sufficient numbers of train cars. Excellent improvements in the last few months have not escaped my attention. I’ve been an MTA rider on MNRR, subways and LIRR for 36+ years so I know when there has been a marked step up in general service.

This can’t be a public transport app. It’s too well-designed. It’s like competent programmers were hired who had a wishlist of design ideas that they wanted to implement from using the MNR and LIRR, and then they actually got to implement it. I feel like user feedback may have also been not only sought out in the testing phases, but also *gasp* implemented. From matching up potential tickets to the train time all in one place to carriage occupancy estimates to showing you any schedule info you might not need (including for the train you’re on, which many apps seem to forget you might need for your post-train journey!), this app has it all. This is a fine example of excellent UX Design, and I wish I had some improvement suggestions, but nope! Keep up the great work.

Train Time is great for listing departure tracks at Grand Central, but can be inaccurate at stations farther out. At Southeast, NY, commonly, Grand-Central-bound trains depart from Track 2 and Wassaic-bound depart from Track 1. Fairly often, Metro-North’s operations people reverse these tracks, causing inexperienced Wassaic passengers to get on an electrically-powered train on Track 1 - listed as Wassaic on the Southeast departure screens and on Train Time as Track 1, both of which are wrong. An experienced commuter like me knows that only Diesel trains can travel north of Southeast. This is not a software bug. It is an operations error not to update the Southeast screens and Train Time when the tracks are reversed. I commute through Southeast only about once a week, and I have seen non-posted track changes like this occur twice in the same month.

Takes the stress out of arriving at the train station and seeing lines waiting in front of those machines where somnambulists stare helplessly at their screen , their minds shorting out at the simplest of button driven choices, credit cards swiping and failing, forgetting they meant offpeak and starting over, while your train arrives on track 3 and you face a choice of maybe getting the ticket in time or just bailing and paying more for it on the train. Instead imagine a world where you float effortlessly, about 3 inches above ground gently driven by an imaginary summer breeze, and then just moments before boarding, you activate a ticket which flourishes quietly like lover’s gentle whisper.

I’ve been using this app for a couple months and it is so easy to use and it’s always accurate (sometimes even more accurate than the arrival clock on the platform!). I love how I can bookmark/save trips. The Tickets section is really easy to use and it’s great to have all my purchased tickets right there and ready to be activated. My only piece of feedback is that I would be great to get more info on the tickets types and when they expire. It’s probably in a FAQ but if there was a little info icon next to the ticket types to just clarify the terms that would be really helpful. I highly recommend this app!

Well folks.. I never thought I would see the day that a government agency, the MTA no less, put out a genuinely useful, thoughtful, bug free and intuitive app. I’m honestly shocked every time I open it. Finding trips is easy, buying tickets is easy, it will show you the trains location on the map, and your location on the platform, and the crowding on each car, you get useful and timely notifications about track changes and delays. Really couldn’t ask for more. Whatever team developed this app, please have them do all of your software MTA (specifically the dumpster fire that is MyMTA, woof) 🙏

Admittedly when I first realized I had to download an app for my daily commute (you can still use paper tickets if you want) I was skeptical at best. So used to buggy budget apps that crash, are slow, poorly thought out etc. It’s honestly amazing. Super reliable, incredibly quick and easy Apple Pay integration for getting all types of tickets including monthly passes. Really accurate tracking of trains and route planning. Hats off to the app creators, I’m not sure I recall ever taking the time to write a review, positive or negative!

I’m a new resident for Fleetwood I enjoy the the silence and peace in the early week days to work and coming back home the staff are very helpful when it comes to get the tickets and help others to get to their destiny , the only thing I don’t like is that I see some passengers using big scoters and take almos 3 or 4 seats at same time and they put theis bough legs in the seats like if they where paying for 4 seats is not fear for other travelers as well . Also I see how some people don’t pay for their ticket they hide in the bathroom and come out like 20minutes later avoiding paying .

The new Train Time app by the MTA is a great update. By combining both ticket sales and scheduling it’s “one stop shopping” at its best. It is my go to app which has placed the numerous third-party apps on my phone performing similar functions on the “back shelf”. A needed update which will hopefully be addressed quickly is when purchasing a new ten trip ticket my remaining ticket from a prior purchase appeared at the bottom of “the stack”. The sort sequence needs to be corrected to have older tickets (which expire first) appear first. With this fix the app definitely deserves five stars.

I am a daily Metro North rider, and regular LIRR rider, so it is great to have everything in one app. That being said, there are a few needed improvements. They could do better with showing faster connections at Grand Central of transfers between systems. Live Alerts is a nice feature, but currently doesn’t function at all for Monthly tickets. Most importantly, they really need to add Apple Watch supports, especially for Monthly Pass holders. It allows easier access for collection to activated tickets, and would let riders who purchased a ticket to have backup access if their phone battery dies.

I’ve purchased tickets under pressure the morning of, upon news for needing to make out of the ordinary meetings. And, I’ve purchased tickets at my leisure days before an expected trip. Either scenario being able to do so at 12a or 3pm in my pajamas is a treasure. It takes some of the stress off for the stress-pressed trips and adds to the joy of the fun trips. BONUS: The app is friendly to navigate and figure out once you’ve oriented yourself to it. So, even if you don’t want to link up a payment method, just for trip planning, route & schedule reviewing, delays & detours tracking…etc…it’s a super useful tool to keep in your back pocket. It lets you visualize and easily adapt your planning on the fly, as long as you have an internet connection or adequate data on your smartphone and a strong single. Though I still buy paper tickets too, this app just adds to my choices.

I have not one reason to deter you from using this app. I am a student who visits his family every weekend and find it very useful in planning both spending my money and spending time with my family. Although, that dosent mean this app is perfect. This app could be taken to the next level by allowing a quicker and more accessible way to by the tickets, when activating or purchasing the tickets on the train you rarely are allowed service and the experience is slower.

So far loving the new app and the fact that the tickets can be showed to the conductors without waiting for them to load is really great. My issue is with the search function for trips - if I say I want to arrive by 7 a.m. the search for the new app gives me a train that arrives after 7 a.m. and then all trains after that. The old app’s search would start with a result that would get you to your destination way before and then show you other options.

When showing NOW, it doesn’t allow you to scroll up to see all available trains without changing to DEPART AT to an earlier time to see the train you are on and the departure and arrival times…I shouldn’t have to click “GO” ahead of time for the trip I am planning to take and have it annoyingly follow the whole trip just to keep track or have to change the Depart Time from NOW to see trips within the last hour. Even right now it is showing only one train ahead of mine and that isn’t even the train I needed it’s the one two before.

This revamp is stellar! You get train schedules, including in real-time tracking of trains-the previous Train Time app was spotty on this-and ticket purchase capability that is seamless. This app makes my life easier as I tend to almost miss my train-I catch it 9 times out of 10-so the ETA of trains is really convenient for me; and the ticket buying capability in-app makes me appear less disorganized. We in the NYC metro area complain a lot about the MTA, most of it well-deserved, but this app is stellar and worthy of praise.

So cool that they made an actually useful app. I’m talking buying tickets right from the schedule, knowing which train is “nearby” / you’re probably on, live tracking your train and still being able to see ETAs after train has departed (used to be such a rigmarole). Relatively recent updates just make this app so much more than a digital ticket holder. Seriously shoutout to the developers and MTA for making this a really stellar / usable app. Thanks.

The MTA has gone through multiple apps through the years and this is their best one by far. This is the only official MTA app that is actually easy to use, and it makes traveling so much easier and less stressful. I’ve recommended the app to some of my non-transit- and tech-savvy friends and family and everyone has been able to navigate easily and seamlessly. Hopefully we’ll see an app of this quality for the rest of the MTA network soon!

This feels like a modern app - simple and good features. It’s a dramatic improvement over the multiple apps the MTA has had previously. Searching and buying tickets is easy with a couple clicks (on this should have been simple before). The thing I just noticed and love is showing where you are on route - everything from departure train track to status along route to adjustments in ETA. Way to go MTA.

The app functions well, very few glitches and has all my commuting information, schedules, tickets in one place. I love the function to add a train time to your calendar (too many apps need this and don’t include it) and purchasing tickets is simple with an option for Apple Pay if you don’t have transit dollars to spend and don’t want to go digging for a credit card when you realize that too late! All in all, makes planning my commute seamless.

This new app is such an improvement over the prior apps. First, it’s very easy to search the train schedule and buy your train ticket directly from the schedule - no more having to go to another app. Second, the app shows all of the stops your train will make, the scheduled arrival time at each stop and, most importantly the estimated time, which is critical if you need to switch across lines during your trip.

The app feeds you the information you need in real time. It tells you the track that is assigned seconds before it is announced which tells me the information is correct and quick. The cherry on top is the live ‘seats available’ chart of the train you’re on. It tells you where there might be sears available if the car you get into is full and you want to sit down.

I find the app very easy to use and intuitive. It seldom is inaccurate but good to check at last minute for changes to the schedule. The MTA has the financial resources with the crazy fares for old and uncomfortable 50 year metro north not updated trains , but it’s the only option. Metro north should add free WiFi to the hudson line , that would justify the super expensive train tickets (A GOOD SUGGESTION, no??) I think this is the best app for NY commuter trains. But how about WiFi ???

This is a great app. It has schedules, prices, great information so you know which tickets to buy/train to catch. It also shows you the track number when it becomes available so you don’t have to stop at the board to look. You can buy your tickets in app which saves on the line. The app also shows you how full each car is. I use this app all of the time. I highly recommend it.

The MTA proved that you can go in-house without sacrificing quality. This app is a stunner. It boasts an attractive, very intuitive UI and it’s packed with features. Its developers are clearly rail *fans,* not just employees— they load up easter eggs and always anticipate service changes and respond well to interruptions. My favorite feature might be the car capacity monitor— it saved my life during peak COVID. This app makes me look forward to riding the LIRR!

Traveling with the app now and it has loads of useful features: a minute by minute accurate train delay clock - showing for each station, updating as the train makes up time (or doesn’t), an easy to follow route guide that unbolds the stations you stop at in precise real-time, accurate track locations. And including a wallet, easy to activate your ticket and show to conductors. Truly a magnificent transit app. Well done!

This app has come a long way since it’s incarnation. The ability to view schedules and buy tickets in the same app is a great upgrade. My other favorite feature is the ability to see which cars are less crowded. It doesn’t always seem to work unfortunately (maybe not all trains have the technology installed yet) but it is useful when trying to figure out what car might have seats.

I’m new to this Ap. It’s not intuitive and takes quite a while to select a different route than a favorite also searching for schedules I have to check time tables on a website to search the trains to input times for arrival if you overshoot it doesn’t give you options and often says no trains are available. Also nicknames seem to all be taken!

This app is incredibly intuitive to use and displays a huge amount of useful information. A very nice feature is that it auto-groups the same train together from multiple origins when doing a multi-origin search. The ease of Apple Pay is quite good as well. Although it's sort of a fringe feature, I'd like the option to search with 3 different origins instead of just 2.

This app is super simple to use and makes planing my trips easy, and the ability to purchase tickets in the app & scan them onboard the train has totally brought the LIRR experience into the technological present. I just wish they weren’t so strict about activating the ticket in time, facing account suspensions for honest mistakes isn’t great but MTA customer service usually straightens things out quickly.

Sometimes your Amtrak is delayed so you’re running through Penn station to catch the last train out east and you don’t have time to stop and get a ticket! Enter this app. I downloaded the app, found my train, made an account and bought tickets in the 2 minutes it took for the conductor to come to my seat! As she looked over my shoulder, the eticket activated! Incredible. Thank you !!!!

In the "BA", Before Apps era, we used to have to study these color-coded, little paper pamphlets to try and figure out train schedules. Then once you deciphered that ancient mystery, you had to haul it to a ticket machine to buy a ticket. I can now easily check schedules and buy a ticket online. May we learn how to live in peace, as we travel together on this train ride of life 💙🌀

Extremely easy and convenient to use.

The app is convenient as I can buy my ticket as I’m running for the train. My issue with this app is that they’ll send you emails threatening to block you on the app. Today I got an upsetting email that they’ve been tracking my activity on the app and that I be activating my ticket after getting on the train and i’ll be blocked if that keeps happening. Firstly why does that matter? All the tickets i’m buying are city tickets that I can only use that day so you’re not losing any money. Secondly why would you make your customers active their ticket before getting on the train? I had an incident where I activated before getting on the train. The train was so incredibly delayed and guess what happened… my ticket ended up expiring before I could even show my ticket. Please explain to me what sense it makes to activate my ticket before entering the train. You guys are disgusting money hungry animals taking advantage of the working class that needs to use your services to get to work. The ticketing people don’t even scan the ticket, I activate it and they barely look at it. Maybe you should enforce stricter rules with them then, if you want us to be activating it before getting on the train. And how are you going to be threatening your customers with some bull like that?! I go to and from Atlantic Terminal they always ask for my ticket so whether I’m activating it before or on the train it still gets activated. They never once not asked me for my ticket so I’m confused as to how you are losing money and have the nerve to send me an email like that. 1/5 app

As an app that shows how the trains are running, sure. Works fine. But using tickets in the app is frankly insane. First, you have to create an account, so that if they decide to fault you (more on that later) they can block your account without warning. They have a policy where if, because of a glitch or accident, you buy more tickets than necessary, you’re given a two-minute grace period to “request” a refund, after which there is no recourse. And then there is the fact that they track your location to ensure that you don’t activate a pre-bought ticket the second you’ve stepped foot on a train that hasn’t left yet. MTA apparently doesn’t care that that’s how most people use the app or understand that the location services isn’t actually good enough several floors below ground to guard against false flags. All said, get the app if you want a slightly more convenient way to track the trains. Otherwise, the MTA needs to change their ludicrous policies.

Why is there no option to add a payment option outside of making an actual purchase? I cannot input credit card info on the final payment screen. As soon as I input all my card info, it always just freezes and the “Accept & Pay” button doesn’t work. I have tried every single remedy: uninstalling & reinstalling app, using FIVE different internet networks, using different card, toggling “save card” option, among others. Texted chat agent, he/she couldn’t help. Told me to clear SAFARI cache 😂 Called phone agent, within a second of explaining my situation and the remedies I’ve attempted, he assuredly said “there’s nothing wrong with the app” like it wasn’t even a remote possibility, 😂😂 rushing me off the line. An app that has been out for LESS THAN A WEEK has customer support agents that are instructed to advise users assuredly and definitely, “there’s nothing wrong with the app.” 😂 I then called him an ugly name, which admittedly I’m not proud of, before hanging up, but he undoubtedly deserved it.

*All who read this review, you are better off now purchasing or going back to physical tickets from the machine. Actual Review: Periodically you ask us patrons to fill out a survey for feedback. Just recently after the changes, I was asked for feedback. Yet, you intentionally left out no open-ended prompt for participant to voice real and honest feedback. You do not care or “value” our feedback. Why? Because you pulled such a lousy, scheming, scamming, greedy stunt like this. It’s the expectation now for any corporation these days. No more 10-ticket purchase option. Replaced with One-Way or “Day Passes” that both expire next day 4 AM. All ticket options except monthly/weekly expire 4 AM. Price increase. Not to mention the infernal $8 “late” activation surcharge. You got the fare so why on earth would you pile such a penalty on top of that!? All of these things are very anti-consumer. There’s no justification for it. And for passengers, at times, their ticket goes unchecked making the money spent absolutely wasteful. On top of that, delays, cancelled trips. What do you have to say about that? Horrible, horrible, horrible decisions made all around. Abysmal practices. Shame you. HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU WANT TO GOUGE OUT PEOPLE? When will enough be enough???? Mark my words, your stellar 4.9 App Store rating will go down. I hope it does. I and many others will make sure of that. Absolutely ridiculous to make changes like this.

I probably used this app maybe 5 times in the last 5-6 yrs. Only starting to use it recently since spring 24’. It started off good and then I notice it has many hitches that can throw off a trip. I don’t recommend this app without listing a few issues incurred after over 90 days of use. I’ll start with the pros: • Great when running late. • Avoid big ticket lines. • Finding work machines • Can give you grace when you haven’t purchase ticket so you don’t have to pay excessive fees for being on conductors time. Especially if its one way or 1-2 stops. • The ticket is accessible to your home screen so you don’t have to shuffle through apps or anything. Now for the cons: • The app stalls when opening from time to time. • It stalls when purchasing tickets at times. • When stalling sometimes it charges your card. Sometimes it doesn’t. • After purchasing tickets after the app times out. Some times they don’t appear right away. • You can get refunds of a portion of your order. (Ex. Buy 5 ticket. Only 1 or 2 can get refunded. • They offer full refunds but you have to forfeit $10 processing fee as they have to pay taxes on the unused tickets. • Yes. You read that right. You will be charged as if you intended to use those tickets. Credit cards might make it easier to dispute charges though. • You can buy tickets as boarding but giving phone’s data, reception, and all elements. They may or may not load in time. Some conductors don’t have the patience and can report to train officers or the app. • Conductors can ban you for buying ticket on app after boarding on the train because they’re separate entities and you are taking away from their jobs when you don’t purchase the tickets through them. Pricing difference doesn’t matter.

One of the most garbage apps I’ve ever used. All this money spent to “crack down” on fare evasion, yet no actual improvements to the app. If “legacy accounts” aren’t honored, why make me go through the process of retrieving that account first? All this so you can charge me some bs “surcharge” if I don’t activate the tix a full 10 min ahead of time. How about y’all spend some cash on giving us WiFi in the freaking tunnels so I can activate your precious fare. All this money and effort just so you can lay off train conductors. All this so you can monitor people, for tech billionaires to make bank on your need to maintain “order”. This is a joke and every single one of you should be fired for this useless broken app. I have been taking the extra few minutes to buy a paper ticket, and I encourage everyone to divest from this nonsense.

I hate the LIRR with every ounce of my being. If I could go to a wishing well and dump my life’s worth of pennies into it to wish for the fall of the LIRR, I would. It’s an embarrassment of a public transportation system and I’ve lost years of my life from the emotional rollercoasters this service has given me from their sheer incompetence. Worst part is, idk who to get in touch with to vent my frustrations. I just sit there, mad and amazed at how simple stuff like announcing the correct track for the departing train you’re trying to catch can be done wrong. Im a commuter for over 10 years sadly and I loathe this entire system and all the traffic NY brings in general. Maybe the LIRR will get me to go back to school and get a job that I can make a living off of outside of NY. I need to get as far away from all this horrible quality of life as soon as possible

I used to love the convenience of this app, but I’m not using it anymore. I just received a notification that I have to pay an on board surcharge for a ticket I PAID FOR but didn’t buy it until I was at the platform. That’s insane that I’m being charged for a violation that ridiculous despite being a paying customer. That also show’s me that this app is constantly tracking and using surveillance to keep tabs on the users to a T. So I will no longer buy my tickets from this app, because I’m not gonna be forced to buy a ticket before I even get to the station. A lot can happen with trains being cancelled or delayed to where I don’t take them. So what then? I’m stuck with a ticket i can’t use or get money back on? No thank you to that, and to this bogus service.

I have to use google or my phone now to log in and not just an email and password like before, which is a terrible system ripe for security issues. The new changes to the fare systems for LIRR and Metronorth do not make sense at all. This is especially true for the 24 hr expiration ticket (what happens if the train is late or is cancelled?) and getting rid of the 10 trips pack. And the pricing for the unlimited day trip does not make sense. Why would you want to pay the same price as two tickets for the weekends. The MTA is really trying to make life harder for its regular users. Focus on fixing your wifi and internet issues under Grand Central first before you try to penalize riders for not being able to buy and activate your tickets immediately!

This app used to know, automatically, what station I was near. And it would, AUTOMATICALLY, select the correct station as my starting point. And based on my ride history, it would know what station I wanted to go to. If I were in Manhattan, it would select Penn for me as my starting point. If I were at my girlfriend’s in Murray Hills, Queens… it would AUTOMATICALLY select Murray Hills as my starting point. It was dynamic and helpful. This no longer happens. But my brain is USED to it happening. This has cost me several missed trains by this point. You guys sapped this app of an incredibly useful feature. And, YES: I have location features enabled.

This new system where they strictly lock out accounts if tickets are activated mere minutes late is unsustainable with far too many people reporting being penalized when it wasn’t warranted. How is delayed activation any different than taking a moment to reach into your wallet to retrieve your physical ticket to show back in the day? The tickets will expire by 4am regardless of activation so the punishment is unnecessary. I hope to see a class action suit of all the stories I have seen about it since this change. They ended useful 10-trip tickets, they ended roundtrip tickets. Every change is worse. On top of this, information on the app is often delayed or incomplete.

Ileana obnoxious and rude we heard her on the speaker. She then came and beat the door in the bathroom. When I was trying to use the toilet and activate Ticket with her attitude. I just gave her another 20 bucks and told her to get away and then somehow I’m being rude and obnoxious and ridiculously out of touch with the normal customer service that MTA has had for 20 years. I will not be riding this and more. I’ll take an Uber and go into the city she is pathetic as someone who is in Washington DC more than Connecticut. We have a MetroCard that we use. We have actual people who assist us not people with attitudes just because she’s union doesn’t mean she should be speaking to the people the way that she did.

The title pretty much says it all. Extremely insecure, obnoxious, forced new accounts - that’s don’t import any old data AT ALL - are being imposed under the patently absurd guise of “security”. There’s nothing secure about using my apple or google or even phone number instead of email. If they actually wanted security, adding an authentication app is the way. An import history & account info is also required. I tried the only supposed help channel - a chat - and found out that nobody answers. I’ve spent decades defending the MTA. But between the bungled omny rollout and this, I’m done. I’ll be going back to paper tickets

Don’t like the new app too much. Colors are not appealing. Graphics could be a little more eye catching. Doesn’t tell you how many minutes until the next train will arrive at your station like it used to. Or how many minutes can mail the next train leaves (it just says at the station or departed which is not helpful). The current train ticket page is worse than it was. Wasn’t clear that you have to expand to see all your tickets. The app icon should stand out more. There are some nice changes, but the old app seemed better overall.

I just tried to use this new app while trying to use the old LIRR app. It linked me to this. Looks nice but it only gives you a limited time frame based on your current, real time use. I want to know what time to take a train tomorrow morning. I have to wait til tomorrow to schedule my trip. I can’t change the calendar day like I used to on the old app. Maybe it works for regular commuters, who already have a general knowledge of the schedule but I am disappointed. It did give me a chat option to get someone to tell me the trains available from 9:30 am -12 pm, as I requested. This person confirmed that I was not able to do so on the app.

My device is blocked from purchasing tickets via MTA App. I submitted a request for refund for $61 for tickets to east Hampton. The train that I was on to east Hampton was canceled - the engine failed and it had to go back to original station. I sent an email asking for you guys to refund this trip as it was canceled. You never answered my email and therefore, never refunded me. I called my bank to cancel this charge. I had to take a $300 dollar Uber from the original train station to east Hampton. MY TRAIN RIDE BACK TO PENN STATION - THE TRAIN’S ENGINE FAILED TOO. How does both trains’ engines fail within 48 hours? please unblock my device ASAP so I can continue to purchase tickets. This is ridiculous.

If you have a 20 trip purchase and purchase additional tickets, the old tickets appear at the bottom of the list with the new tickets on top. Logically speaking a user would want to use old tickets first since they expire sooner than any new ticket purchased. Instead the user has to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list to find the ticket they want to use. Counter-intuitive. Also wish they had auto-refill options it is a pain to keep buying more.

I take the MTA 2 times a week, this app gives faulty information which leads to people ending up on the wrong train or missing the train entirely. Mistakes by this app cost me hours a week and far too much money. They don’t mark express trains resulting in me ending up in a different state from my destination. I live in New York so I have no choice in using this app, I just wish they were accountable for once. Edit: they canceled every train I needed to get home and left me stranded in New Rochelle. The worst transportation authorities in the world, and they have only gotten worse for the last few months.

I find it absolutely shocking and unacceptable that there is no refund policy for single tickets, or that refunds are only available for purchases over $10 or $15. On five separate occasions, I have bought tickets in advance, believing I would be taking the Metro North, only to later realize that I wouldn't be using the service and thus losing $5 to $7 each time. This may not seem like much to you, but for hard-working people, this can add up to a significant amount. It is crucial that you implement a refund policy for all ticket purchases, regardless of the amount.