GoCarma

This app does the job of providing the HOV rates when traveling on toll roads, but the required “always allow” location requirement is very concerning. Where is my location data stored? How long is this information kept? Who has access to all of my location data? Is the data shared with any third parties? I expect that the standard legalese would be the response to most of these questions. This forces me to disable and enable location services for this app depending on my commute. Not the optimal situation, but it gets the job done. It will be up to each person to decide the value of saving money on their commutes. Other than the location information concerns, the app is easy to use and seems to work as expected.

The claim is that GoCarma will allow you to get HOV discounts. But that's a joke, because they make it next to impossible to get things set up, even for people such as myself who are quite tech-savvy. Heaven forbid my grandparents try to set it up. The Occupant Passes are even more of a joke. Nowhere in the app is there even an option to set up the OP that I ordered and received for my child, as directed by the instructions that came with the device. This is completely absurd! Why would you deploy an utterly faulty product that your software doesn't even support? Why is your documentation not more straight forward? It's like GoCarma is doing lip service claiming to provide discounts, but they do everything in their power to make it next to impossible to actually GET the discount.

Not only is it incredibly inconvenient to have the app “always allow” location, which has made my phone battery die faster, but having to use the GoCarma sensors is so unnecessary. The claim that people would forget to set their HOV before traveling as a reason to switch to this is absurd. It was so much easier to set a weekly schedule instead. Not to mention that if you travel with children that don’t have smart phones, having to order an occupant pass for them feels like an invasion of their privacy. The toll tag was enough personal information. Now we have to have physical passes for each person traveling in the car? Certainly not environmentally friendly, private, or convenient. This feels like an unnecessary invasion of privacy, as well as unfriendly to the environment with the physical passes required. Users should have the same options to set a schedule, as well as opt out of the “always on” location and add children to the account so there’s no physical piece required.