Metro Houston unveils new mobile ticketing app

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Just in time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Metro is providing a new way to pay for your bus or rail ticket, or your shuttle ticket from the Park-and-Ride.

Download the app to your iPhone or Android device, create an account, and start using your smartphone to pay for bus and rail rides.

You need a credit or debit card, or a Paypal account to set up payment, but no more Q-cards or cash.

Buy the ticket on your phone at any time, and then activate it right before you ride. It's good for three hours and covers free transfers in all directions. In addition, you can buy tickets for multiple riders on one smartphone. Just keep your smartphone handy in order to show the activated ticket, on the app, as proof of a valid ticket.

Kaitlin McNeely use Metro on a regular basis, and has already started using the app.

"You're trying to make the bus or a train, and you know you need to buy a ticket, you're running late, all of those sorts of situations, you know that having an app is going to make it a lot easier," said McNeely.

Metro is still developing student and senior discount tickets as well as park and ride payment options.