Flamingo Fares

Last used the app march 2023. It’s now October 2023 and apparently there is an update five months ago. I had to re login (for some reason aka phone reset etc) and now it forces a new virtual card created. I can see the old virtual card with $7.80 under “manage” along with the new virtual card with $0.00 under “manage” but can only “use” the new virtual card. There is no way to switch which virtual card to use. In the past, I had to have two separate devices and two separate accounts aka emails and phone numbers with separate virtual cards and separate balances if two riders in a family were making a trip. I’m going to give up on this app and see if I can get balances transferred to physical cards. Also I had to regularly delete my credit card information from the app to prevent being charged for unwanted reloads that were caused by pocket taps during use resulting in excessive bank fees. Just doesn’t work right. No meaningful beta testing and Psta et al forcing flamingo fares to be used exclusively for ridership. Just a forced disaster from people who hate public transport and especially those that use it.

This app is great for the most part! It’s made transportation to and from work a lot easier for me. The main issue I have with is the virtual card feature. I changed my phone recently and that’s when all my problems with this app started. First it asked me to create a new virtual card since I didn’t have one associated with my new device.(which I think is weird because my card should be associated with my account itself to avoid this very issue but anyway) I went ahead and created a new one. Just for my old virtual card to pop back up. But for some reason I’m unable to use it because it does not pop up in the “use” section. I called customer service three times. They had asked me to leave a message which I did. Days later I opened my app to see my original virtual card, with all my money, blocked and all the money had moved onto the new card. This would have been great except; the app was freezing so I logged out and logged back in and and it asked to create yet another virtual card! Yikes! Which I did but now I’m still not able to access the card with my money on it. As a broke college student, this makes things unnecessarily hard for me. I guess all I’m trying to say is, I’m hoping the developers will come up with a “delete virtual card feature” so I can delete the other cards and get my original card back. Or at least that I’d be able to use the card with my money on it. Aside that, it’s a pretty great app. Thanks!

The app clearly needs some attention because it never works. It’s not just me but just about everyone that I see use the app get the “Tap Again” message. When I had the card it was great… when the machine worked. However after loosing the card and trying to use the app it is extremely frustrating. What makes it even worse is HART bus drivers in Tampa are the rudest incompetent non-customer service driven people in the world. When I call Flamingo fares customer service…if I can get anyone… they want me to come to one of their offices to fix the problem. That’s completely ridiculous because if I’m riding the bus to work during the weekdays that means I would have to take time off from work to fix a problem they created. And they won’t mail you another card. Even more ridiculous!!! JUST THROW THE WHOLE SYSTEM AWAY!!!