The best — and worst — apps for navigating public transit in the Bay Area

With more than two dozen bus, train and ferry agencies all covering different parts of the Bay Area, navigating your commute without a car — especially for first-timers — can be incredibly daunting.

It’s not always clear where the bus goes, when the next train will come or how much the trip will cost. Take political science professor Patrizia Longo of Lafayette’s experience,  the first time she decided to take BART to babysit her granddaughter in San Jose. She didn’t map out her route ahead of time, assuming she’d just hail an Uber or Lyft when she got to the end of the line at Warm Springs in South Fremont. One $30 ride later, and she quickly realized that wasn’t going to work for regular visits.

“I said, ‘I need to find a bus,’” Longo said.

Eventually, she did, Googling around a bit until she found the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s 181 express route. But this is the home of Silicon Valley, and there’s an easier way: There’s an app for that.

Some transit apps were developed by private companies, others by the transit agencies themselves. We’re still waiting for the Holy Grail of apps: one that would allow you to plan your entire trip — including buses, trains, ferries, Ubers, Lyfts, shared scooters and bikes — and pay for it, all in one click.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the region’s transportation planning agency, is working on something similar. It expects to debut an app for mobile Clipper card payments in 2020 that would essentially replace the physical card. The same app would have a trip-planning tool, said John Goodwin, an agency spokesman. But, the two functions — planning your trip and paying for it — won’t be completely integrated until that app gets further upgrades in 2021 or beyond. And, adding private companies, such as Lyft or shared scooters, may be even further out.

Until then, there are dozens of apps out there to help ease your commute. Some include mobile payments; others are strictly for trip planning. There are far too many to include in this roundup. So, if you have an app you especially love, drop a link in the comments section of this article with your take on how well it works. We field-tested the apps below for accuracy and overall ease of use.

For Trip-Planning:

How it works: All of the following trip-planning apps work in essentially the same way. Enter your start point, or “my location,” and your destination. Select the time you want to go, whether that’s right away, leaving at a certain time or arriving by a particular time. The apps will show you multiple options for the best route, and some will offer cost and time comparisons for hailing an Uber or Lyft, or hopping on a shared bike or scooter.

Transit: Our favorite. It had the best time predictions for bus and train arrivals, working equally well in the East Bay with AC Transit buses and BART, in San Francisco with MUNI, and in the South Bay with SamTrans and the VTA. Better time predictions made for smoother trips, less waiting between transfers and fewer missed connections. That being said, it’s not perfect all the time and left one reporter stranded for 30 minutes when a scheduled bus never showed. But, it still beat its competition. For an added perk, the app also provides time and cost comparisons for taking Lyft and Ford GoBike, when the shared bike rentals are available in your area.

BART (official): A very close second. While it’s easy to hate on BART when there are delays or dirty trains, this is one instance where we have to give credit where it’s due. We loved being able to open the app and see when the train is coming, knowing whether we had time to duck into a nearby cafe and grab that cup of coffee (or not). It also has pretty accurate predictions for connections to AC Transit, MUNI and VTA buses. But, what really makes the BART (official) app stand out is the ability to chose whether you want directions for walking to the bus or train station, biking or driving. Live ten miles from the nearest BART station and plan to park? That’s fine, just chose the “car + train” option, and the app will get you there. Live two miles away and plan to bike? It has directions for you, too. All the other apps assume you’ll be on foot until you board a bus or train. And here’s a bonus: download the BART to Airport app to save 25 percent on tickets to the Oakland or San Francisco airports for two or more people. When you’re going through the fare gates, simply show the ticket to the station agent or fare inspector. You’ll only need one receipt for all the tickets.

Google maps: It’s the standard. You’ve probably used it to get driving directions and maybe also toggled to the “bike” or “walking” options, too. While it’s pretty good, it isn’t as consistently reliable for predicting when the bus or train will get there as others.

Moovel and Moovit: These two apps were closely tied in our books. Both seemed to rely on the stated bus or train schedules, rather than real-time information, which resulted in missed connections or long waits. Both give users the option to connect an Uber account to the app, so you could chose between taking transit and hailing a ride, which is nice.

CityMapper: Our biggest disappointment. This app had all the hallmarks of greatness. Not only will it show you bus, train and ferry routes, but it also displays nearby shared scooter and bike rentals, and the comparative cost and time for both Uber and Lyft. In other words: nearly every option you could possibly take to get somewhere that’s not in your own car. There’s a feel-good display that shows you how many trees your transit trip saved, how many calories your shared bike ride or walk to the bus stop burned and how much money you saved. But wow, oh wow, are the time predictions inaccurate, rendering the app essentially useless. We hope the app developers can tap into the real-time data many Bay Area transit agencies already collect. Once it does, you won’t need another app.

For buying tickets:

How it works: If you tend to use only one transit agency, then these apps can be really useful. All of them give you the option of creating an account to automatically debit money from your bank account. Why do that if you already have a Clipper card account? It usually takes three to five business days for money you added to your online Clipper account to show up on your card — a huge hassle if you need to ride the train tomorrow. You can manually load cash or credit onto your Clipper card at a BART or MUNI Metro station, but there aren’t many ticket machines outside those stations.

Hopthru: Works with the San Francisco Bay Ferry, Sonoma County Transit and Vine Transit. Use the SMART eTickets app if you’re taking the train.

MUNIMobile: Works for not only MUNI and MUNI Metro passes, but also Caltrain and VTA tickets.

VTA EZfare: Buy local day passes, express day passes, and single rides. It also uses the Transit app as its trip-planning tool, which we like.

CaltrainMobile: Useful for buying tickets, but don’t try to plan your trip! The app takes you to the mobile Caltrain site, which is essentially a digitized version of the paper time tables. Use CaltrainMe to find schedules, service advisories, trip fares, the nearest station and more.