For someone accustomed to using conventional payment methods, using Metro’s new mobile ticketing system for the first time is a little strange. Gone is the need to slide dollar bills or drop coins into the farebox. There isn’t even a fare-proving "ding" when you swipe your Q card.

You just show the bus driver your phone, which is sort of odd. In my case on Wednesday, the first driver just nodded and told me I was good to go. The second seemed a little suspicious of the arrangement, but didn’t boot me off the bus.

Metro officials are enthused about an increase in transit ridership since a major bus system change rolled out in August. They hope the smartphone payments will prompt even more people to consider hopping aboard. But, like the smartphone test, the details of how Metro's changes affected ridership are still a work in progress.

As about 100 beta testers try out the smartphone payments, transit officials in Houston and beyond are looking at the latest ridership figures to discern trends.

The new payment system and ridership are closely linked. In the build-up to the change in bus service, Metro officials said it was crucial to make riding more convenient.

The smartphone payment system should roll out to all customers in a few weeks.

I offered to test the software, using a nonwork email address that could not have identified me to Metro as a reporter. As far as I can tell, I was randomly chosen.

The app allows riders to buy and store tickets with PayPal or a credit card. The purchaser simply activates the ticket to ride. When activated, the ticket displays an expiration date and time and plays a sort of animated video. Provided the bus driver gives a quick glance at the phone, verifies the expiration isn’t passed and the video is moving, it would be hard to cheat the system.

On rail, the tickets would act as proof of payment, just as fare inspectors tap Q cards to verify someone paid to ride.

The app comes at a time of change for Metro. The agency and its riders are still working through the massive changes implemented in August, though many of the early jitters are gone. Riders have a decent sense of how convenient, or not, the service will be.

The reaction remains mixed. Some riders along core routes with frequent service say it is remarkably better, while those who have multiple transfers and lengthy trips continue to complain. A handful have abandoned the system.

Metro officials said they are pleased with the changes so far, as are transit proponents who have defended the agency in light of the criticism.

Ridership figures, though muddied by the changes, indicate more trips are being taken. Overall, the total number of unlinked transit trips -- a single ride on a single bus or train -- was up 1.2 percent in December, compared to December 2014.

The December results, however, were not all positive. Park and ride service fell 4.7 percent, the largest drop since June 2012. Officials speculated layoffs in the oil and gas industry are curtailing commuting trips.

Other bus use was also down, however. Some of the decline could be attributed to job losses in the area. Two rail lines that opened in May, and the major bus changes, are two likely factors in the decline.

As you can see from the chart below, though overall Metro ridership is up slightly, local bus use declined from about 195,000 in 2012, 2013 and 2014, to around 187,000 in December. Light rail use, meanwhile, has risen sharply.

It’s important to remember that rail ridership pales in comparison to bus use because buses travel so many more places in Houston. Rail carries lots of people to fewer destinations.

The Red Line, Metro’s original light rail line, carried about 38,000 people on weekdays before it was expanded north of downtown. Since that December 2013 addition of 5.8 miles, it has grown to ferrying about 41,000 people, peaking in October with a ridership of around 57,000. It’s common for use to dip in November and December because of holidays.

The 82 Westheimer bus, meanwhile, is the area’s busiest bus route. Prior to the new bus system, when two routes ran Westheimer, the lines typically carried about 11,000 or 12,000 people on weekdays, depending on the time of year. Since the changes, it has consistently carried a few hundred more people daily.

Metro improved service on the Westheimer buses late last month by increasing frequency to six-minute intervals during peak commuting periods. The move was meant to combat crowding and lure more riders along what transit officials believe it a critical east-west route.

The route also is popular in non-peak times. To test the new smartphone payment and use of the Route 82 buses, I ran an enchilada experiment. I rode the bus to El Real for enchiladas for lunch on two different days. This is in no way scientific, but it was a great excuse to get a plate of carne doble.

As you can see from the charts below, on both days more than 40 percent of the time for a round trip is riding the bus back and forth.

On Feb. 3 the trip took a combined seven minutes less time. The time it took me to consume a plate of enchiladas, unsurprisingly, was rather consistent.

After taking a wait-and-see approach to some trends – Metro is later than some of its peers with smartphone payment – the agency is changing rapidly.

In the past year, riders have received a code of conduct, two new light rail lines, a completely revised bus system and then alterations to that system. It’s been a lot for some to digest.

During that time, however, Metro has smoothed out some of the kinks in its next bus texting system, is testing smartphone payment and finally restructured transfers to allow for travel within three hours, not just in a specific direction.

How these changes will affect the agency and is customers remains to be seen.