Why is the new SNCF Connect application not unanimous?

Aurélien Fleurot 6:38 a.m., February 2, 2022

SNCF Connect, the railway group's new application, is confusing users.

Despite promises of simplicity, many customers are expressing their displeasure, especially on social media.

Regulars find the application less practical or less aesthetic... but above all there have been recurring technical problems since it went online last Tuesday. 

Lots of bugs

Among the disruptions noted by customers, who either had already booked via the oui.SNCF site or application or who had not created an identifier, there is the impossibility of finding a travel file or modifying it by line as Sonia did before in a few clicks, met Gare de Lyon in Paris, leaving a ticket office with a paper in hand, whereas everything usually happens on her smartphone. 

She explains to Europe 1 that the person at the counter "told him that there were a lot of bugs, that it was normal and that he had to download the application again".

Despite going through the box office, her ticket "still does not appear on SNCF Connect, I carry around with a small piece of paper, it's complicated", she laments.

An interface that divides

A few meters further on, on the forecourt of the Gare de Lyon, several customers explain their surprise at the start but have already gotten used to the new application.

Manon, for example, really likes the new colors, blue and black.

Antoine explains for his part that he preferred the classic search with the departure/arrival/date boxes but that he will quickly get used to the new version "without problem".

>> Find the morning of the day in replay and podcast here

A leniency that is more complicated to find on the Internet.

On social networks, especially Twitter or in the comments on the application stores, the Play Store or the App Store, the surge of dissatisfied people has been continuous for a week.

SNCF had anticipated these difficulties and its dedicated customer service staff were increased by 30% for the occasion.

Very busy staff, "you have to do a lot of pedagogy", we recognize internally. 

Corrections in progress or already made

If the SNCF assumes certain choices such as dark aesthetics, the midnight blue identity, to save the energy of smartphones as well as the intelligent search bar, the railway company makes it known that it remains attentive and that certain remarks have already been taken into account.

>> READ ALSO

- Purchasing tickets, traffic conditions... SNCF launches its new all-in-one application

For example, there were problems with unreadable QR codes with certain phones, this is resolved by updating the application.

Other Internet users have complained about the lack of a link between SNCF Connect and the Apple Wallet, the virtual wallet which allows you to bring together documents and transport tickets, this will be rectified “during February”.

Users, who have the TGV Max subscription at 79 euros per month, cannot find any tickets in the interface.

The SNCF Connect & Tech entity recalls that more than 300,000 tickets were purchased as of January 25 and that "more than 7 million tickets were automatically found by customers at launch".