Consumer-facing routing is a commodity these days. Apple and Google's bundled maps/routing products get better by the month and are sweeping all before them. The only exit strategies for Citymapper that I could ever see were "get acquired by Apple/Google" or "firesale", and although the latter might be a bit harsh, TechCrunch suggests investors weren't exactly laughing all the way to the bank.[1]<p>If you can identify a niche and keep your costs down then you might have a chance. Apps targeted at enthusiast cyclists continue to do well, for example, although I have my doubts about expenditure vs revenue for some of them. (Disclaimer: I run a small-scale cycle routing app/site.)<p>But "people who want to get around Western European and North American cities" is not a niche that Apple/Google were ever going to overlook.<p>[1] "Citymapper investors are mostly not making their money back in the transaction and that it’s effectively a washout": <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/16/via-acquires-trip-planning-app-citymapper-to-boost-transit-tech/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/16/via-acquires-trip-planning...</a>
I've always loved Citymapper, it made using public transport when living in a new city a breeze. It's really sad they don't support my current city, I'd be willing to put in free work to make it happen but I've never seen any way of helping out.
So Via have acquired Citymapper, or am I misreading this?<p>They've dressed up the announcement so much that you can't even understand what they're announcing.
I've used Citymapper for maybe 5 years, and while I remain a fan, Transit[0] just seems like a much better product. They support more cities, their user tracking is (generally) more accurate, and (at least in my opinion) their app just better designed & thought out for transit use.<p>[0]: <a href="https://transitapp.com/" rel="nofollow">https://transitapp.com/</a>
Hi,<p>Marius here - VP Engineering for Citymapper (powered by Via)<p>We are excited about the opportunities this creates for the product and team. We are looking forward to join an excellent tech company.
Happy to answer any questions.<p>And we are hiring as we are expanding our product and team. For openings to work on the Citymapper app and tech please visit <a href="https://citymapper.com/jobs" rel="nofollow">https://citymapper.com/jobs</a> or write to marius@citymapper.com
I know a few people who worked at Citymapper in senior roles, and the general consensus has always been that there was ultimately no feasible way to monetise.<p>As others have pointed out, their core value of routing/planning/exploiting Open Data became heavily commoditised by Apple, Google, and the transport operators themselves (e.g. TfL in London). Their belated attempts to monetise payments, data, even running transport itself, haven't been successful: it's a crowded, aggressive market filled with long-time incumbents who have established relationships and deep strategic control points.<p>As a place to work / founder values... ..well, the reviews on Glassdoor speak for themselves. I can't say I'm grieving for its loss.
For people who use either of these apps, what advantages do they offer over google maps transit directions? I live in Chicago and only use google maps but I would love to use something else that is more accurate with bus timings.
Fairly unrelated I guess but I'd love to work on navigation software of some sort. I worked on a project involving it in project and had quite a lot of fun with it, something very gratifying about making something useful for day to day.<p>I did apply to citymapper at some point to no avail unfortunately.
Absolutely love Citymapper for finding pleasant bike routes! Really hope this doesn't end up handicapping the product or spreading focus thin.<p>Have recommended it to so many people. Biking wouldn't be the same without it.
> The app will continue<p>I <i>really</i> doubt that after less than 5 years it will be rolled into Via.<p>Is there any thriving UK startups still around acquiring US companies? It seems that the news I see is US company acquires UK startup when I don't see the other way round.<p>Really makes the UK startup scene just a european HQ for US companies at a discount.
hadn't used this before. Checked out the map. Wondered wtf was going on with the way they colored the nyc subway. Realized they highlight lines whenever there's a service change in effect, under the assumption that would be the uncommon case, and never anticipated highlighting most of the city in painful bright orange.
Citymapper is useful but has extremely high battery usage on both Android and iOS. I use Google Maps and TfL Go instead, but I'd happily use Citymapper more if they fix this.