NY Waterway

For a transportation service that has been operating for decades, the NY Waterway app is surprisingly outdated and unreliable when it comes to real-time communication. The app is not useful for timely service updates or notifications. When there are service disruptions, alerts and text messages often arrive after the issue has already occurred, making them ineffective for commuters who rely on accurate, real-time information to plan their trips. There also appears to be a breakdown in customer support. When tickets malfunction or service issues are reported through the app or by email, there is rarely—if ever—a response. NY Shuttle buses are terrible. This leaves customers without answers or accountability. This morning, there are known issues on my route, yet there are still no updates in the app. That lack of communication forces riders to find alternative transportation on their own. Today, I’ll be taking the NJ bus instead. For a company with such a long-standing presence in the region, it’s disappointing that no meaningful investment has been made to modernize this app or improve customer communication. Commuters deserve real-time updates, responsive support, and a system they can actually depend on.

First off, the bus schedule is the same user-unfriendly interface i saw like 8 years ago when i first got this app. its like constantly refreshing an updated PDF and literally every other transportation app i have seen looked wayyy better even back in like 2019z Second, the tickets were kind of hard to select. Instead of offering a round trip/return ticket after selecting your destination, it just lets you buy more of the same way ticket and i accidentally bought two outbound tickets. I should have read more carefully yes but its just not good design. Third- buying was a nightmare. When you are asked to sign in with Apple or Gmail, apple takes you to a weird sign in page rather than doing the quick FaceID that every other app nowadays has. The Gmail link didnt even work at all so i just made a new account. Then i wanted to pay with the credit card linked to my ApplePay/wallet and i had to put it in manually. at least it had the scan option but i havent had an app ask me to do that in a LONG time. i wish there was a way to buy tickets online from a computer and get them sent to my phone, but as far as i saw it isnt there.

I have never had issues with this app before COVID, however after the ferry started running again, I purchased a 7 day pass and it worked fine on Monday, for the trip into work and the return trip home. On Tuesday, I tried to activate the ticket and it left me on a loading page. No matter what I did (restart app, restart phone, connect to WiFi, connect to data, delete and reinstall app) it NEVER activated the ticket for the remainder of the week. This has now happened twice. I am furious because I am being forced to spend more money on tickets that I shouldn’t need. I am going to resort to buying paper tickets, but I will end up spending more money that way because they do not sell 7 day paper tickets, only single rides and 10 trip, both of which will be more expensive. I am also frustrated because getting in touch with anyone to assist me is nearly impossible since office hours are limited to 7am-11am. I love the ferry, it is the best part of my commute into the city, but if I cannot get the assistance I need, I will be forced to find an alternative means of getting to work.