I take the 150 bus from MIA to South Beach, and it’s easy to do as an infrequent bus rider because I can just tap to pay from my apple pay. I don’t need some special app or anything, and tourists who come to town don’t need one either. I’m sure that maps into the equation on the payment methods accepted.
It’s not hard to imagine the bus being useful for those who come to downtown for festivals, music events, conventions, etc. using the R-Line. Few if any of those visitors are going to be motivated to download a separate payment app to ride it. They are probably more likely to just grab an Uber if they are asked to download yet another app that has their payment details associated with it.
While the umo app has other information on it for frequent users of the system, it’s not going to be terribly compelling for infrequent users of this or any bus system.
Keep the umo app, but add a tap to pay feature for those who don’t use the system frequently, and/or for visitors.
I disagree - because even as a frequent GoTriangle rider, the Umo app has been useless for me except for showing my GoPass. The bus schedules aren’t well-integrated with real-time location updates, their direction-giving features are useless (I seem to have to re-enter my work and home locations every week despite being consistently logged into my account), and their comment/complaint-making feature is nothing but a link to sending an email to GoTriangle.
That app feels like something that a newbie project manager vibe-coded for a homework assignment in their senior year of undergrad - one who’s never taken public transit before, and has never stress-tested their own app in real life. 
Perhaps you didn’t realize that I am not disagreeing with you? I only speak for the infrequent bus rider, and said that I don’t think it’s compelling to use. You only reinforce that it’s bad for frequent users too. That’s not a disagreement; it’s just additional information from a different rider POV.
I agree that the UMO app is not the best for navigating the system.
I use it only to display my senior pass QR code for the reader.
Recommend the Transit app instead if you haven’t tried it.
Accurate, good graphical interface, and adept with route options.
Oh no, I totally get that; sorry for the confusion!
I just wanted to lay that out because I have some seething hatred of Umo and TransLoc. Plus, I think the reasons that you don’t find Umo compelling and my reasons for being frustrated come from the same source: its god-awful UI.
Likewise; whether you frequently use public transit or not, I agree with @TDR and love using the Transit app, instead! It also works for most major cities in the US and the rest of the Anglosphere, too, as well as most of France and several other countries.
Even Apple Maps is better for navigation and live vehicle locations than the Umo app. It’s frankly embarrassing, if I could add my GoPass to Apple Wallet I would never use it.
I’ve used the UMO app exactly once, and I instantly hated it. Rejected my payment options because, apparently, both of my credit cards are “not valid.” I went to GoRaleigh Station and got a physical GoPass. For schedules and navigation, I just use Transit and Google Maps. The UMO app can go burn in hell.
Greensboro’s Hop does the same with the vintage trolleys.
Thanks to all who contributed to this. It gave me a lot to think about and I have my conclusions and a statement being put together. 
I’m closing this form.
I presented my thoughts at yesterday’s Raleigh Transit Authority meeting. Let me know what you think as I try and carry this forward.
I’d add that when Raleigh is offering free parking downtown, but charging for the RLine, it’s no surprise that folks aren’t riding…even DT residents.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: GoRaleigh Bus System, now and the future