Pronto - San Diego

San Diego MTS

About this app

PRONTO makes buying fares for MTS and NCTD easier than ever. Add money to your PRONTO app, then scan your phone at the validator each trip you make. Our pay-as-you-go function means you always get the best fare! When using the app, hold your phone 5 to 6 inches below the validator to scan your barcode.

The PRONTO app can also help you plan trips, see real-time arrivals, get service statuses, save favorite stations, and find stops for San Diego County area transit so you can plan your trip around San Diego without any problems.

Always Get The Best Fare
With PRONTO, you can pay-as-you-go* by adding money to your PRONTO account with a credit or debit card. Every time you scan your app, the appropriate one-way fare is deducted from your balance. Look for validators at Trolley, SPRINTER and COASTER stations, and onboard buses.

You will never be charged more than a Day Pass ($6 Adult or $3 Reduced Fare) in a given calendar day, regardless of how many trips you make. Likewise, you will never be charged more than a Month Pass ($72 Adult or $23 Reduced Fare) regardless of the number of trips in a calendar month.

You can track your progress toward a Day or Month Pass in the PRONTO app.

*Pay-as-you go features not available for COASTER (must prepay for Day or Month Pass).


Manage Your PRONTO Cards
• Register your PRONTO card for balance protection
• Load money onto your card using a debit/credit card
• Set up autoload to top off your card automatically when your balance gets low
• See your balance, current fare, and earned passes
• Look up your recent scans, transfer times, and payment history
• Manage multiple PRONTO cards for your family or group
• Block/Unblock a lost or stolen card

Next Departures:
• Find Next Departures using stop number, address or landmarks
• See real-time bus and train service statuses and news
• Map and List view of Nearby Stops
• List of recent stops and favorites

Trip Planning:
• Plan a trip using popular landmarks or addresses
• Full trip itineraries with fare information, actual walking distance, and map view
• Set alerts to notify you when transit is arriving
• See a list of recent trip plans
• Save favorite stops for easy access

Need More Help?
Contact PRONTO Support at 619-595-5636

Ratings and reviews

The app STILL does not support nfc so you can tap your phone like you would a card. The scanning system is just terrible, I cannot tell you how many times I have missed a trolley because the scanner would not work. It it unbelievable to me that this has not been implemented yet. Furthermore I have experienced issues in the past where it would desync the account because the clocks did not match exactly, and many more times where it would simply not load the QR code at all.

App isn't intuitive or stable. Scanning the QR is a nightmare. As a student, there's usually 20+ students lining up at a bus stop. In an ideal world maybe the scanning takes half a second and boarding wouldn't take an eternity but with everyone fiddling for the scanner's sweet spot it takes too long. The bus drivers have basically given up and tell us to board. I think implementation of NFC (support for gpay/applepay?) which is already used for the cards would make it a smoother experience.

Inconvenient all around. You can't purchase a day pass on the app. Because of that, I got a physical card, bought the day pass, and then linked it to the app. But when I tapped in from the app, it charged me the normal fare with the transfer window??! There's really no point having the app if it's not going to do what a physical card would anyway. Also, I couldn't delete an old card, and the QR code only shows the first card, so I had to go through a few screens to tap in anyway! Inconvenient!

What's new

1. Ability for users to delete account directly from the mobile app
2. Miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements