San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Posted in Bad Design, San Francisco on November 17th, 2007 by ДмитрийMuni, why does your tech have to suck so bad after 20 years in the heart of the tech industry?
Muni is trying to pretend that it’s becoming more customer-centric and friendly (and “cutting edge”).
So I try to buy my pass online (actually, I’ve been doing it for the past 3 months). I can do this, as long as I have it shipped to work. That’s a problem, since I arrive in SF after passes stop being sold for the month. So I have to pay for the first bus ride to work (assuming I arrive on a work day) to get my pass.
You see, their website (despite having standard eCommerce templates with 50-state drop-down menus) restricts purchasing to Northern CA zip codes. So I have to give my work address in order to get a pass at all. Strangely, they DO allow the credit card billing address to be out-of state and different from the mailing address, so they are OK with fraud, as long as it’s someone in SF stealing a CC from someone outside CA. But they’re too lazy to modify their eCommerce template to only display CA on the state list.
Muni agents have repeatedly told me I could purchase passes and have then sent to NC after I explain my situation. Apparently they don’t give much training to these agents. Three months now and I’m surprised if I’m the only one this has inconvenienced.
This is also not friendly to tourists or visitors who want to pre-purchase a pass. This restriction baffles me and is totally inconvenient.
Of course, when I use their “questions about the website” form to send them this feedback, they apparently don’t accept comments from people with “@” in their email addresses.