please empty your brain below
I don't know why you bothered to write about this as I won't be using it so I don't understand why anyone else would need to know about it.

Jon Jones | 21.02.19 - 7:12 a.m. | #

But it's green! How could you resist a card that's green. Even if it's an extra card for your wallet. Green!

martin | 21.02.19 - 7:31 a.m. | #

There was a perfectly good London route planning application from the chap who designed the Rightmove app. That was fine for me, without billions of venture capital dollars behind it so I really don’t know why they bothered.

Dan | 21.02.19 - 7:42 a.m. | #

Too tiresomely written to read beyond para 1.
A shame, because it undoubtedly took some time to style it in that way.

David | 21.02.19 - 7:48 a.m. | #

@David: I don’t know why DG bothered!

Dan | 21.02.19 - 7:50 a.m. | #

By an amazing coincidence the London Tube Deluxe app (from Malcolm Barclay, the Rightmove guy) was relaunched yesterday! [iTunes]

I use Citymapper so I certainly won’t be downloading this and I don’t know why he bothered.

Dan | 21.02.19 - 7:54 a.m. | #

Well, reading this article did at least get me to download the Citymapper app out of curiosity but I no longer live in London and I already know my way around my current city and London and basically I'm not sure if I'll ever open the app again so I don't know why I bothered.

Ben | 21.02.19 - 8:13 a.m. | #

Mmm, interesting. It reminds me a bit of the Whim scheme in Birmingham - or, at least, of the Whim scheme's original offering - see, for instance, Birmingham Live on the topic. Whim currently seems to offer rather less than it did previously, suggesting that its original offering was not popular. Will this be significantly more popular? Quite possibly, but I'd be inclined to bet against it.

Chris | 21.02.19 - 8:23 a.m. | #

I don't know why anyone bothers with apps when websites have more functionality and work better.

John | 21.02.19 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I am confused. Best say no more lest the b word jumps into my post

Malcolm | 21.02.19 - 8:58 a.m. | #

Without rising to the bait too much, when working I traveled regularly to a number of cities around the world with oyster-like card for public transport, so had to manage all of those and the balances on each. Having one card that worked in any city I was traveling to would be very useful.

But I appreciate that's not the norm...

Steve | 21.02.19 - 9:11 a.m. | #

I have a Freedom Pass means I won't ever need any of those so I don't understand why anyone would need them so I don't know why they bothered.

Caz | 21.02.19 - 10:58 a.m. | #

As with almost anything free nowadays, no doubt they are collecting lots of valuable data to offset the £5 per week subsidy.

Andrew | 21.02.19 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Something I love about Japan is that the oyster-equivalents work in every city (or at least all the ones I’ve been to). The same is true in the Netherlands. Not sure if it’s true anywhere else?

Alan | 21.02.19 - 11:20 a.m. | #

I usually read DG's articles, but this one took a while because I don't use Citymapper so I don't understand why anyone does so I don't know why he bothered.

the orange one | 21.02.19 - 12:04 p.m. | #

I don't use Citymapper so I wasn't going to bother reading this post but DG bothered to write it, so I read it, and I'm glad I bothered.

Still not going to use Citymapper tho. Am I bothered?

Cornish Cockney | 21.02.19 - 1:43 p.m. | #

Also, crucially, you don't get a 1/3 Dangleway discount, so I'm not sure why anyone would be interested.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 21.02.19 - 2:34 p.m. | #

I've wondered for a long time what Citymapper's business model is intended to be.

They've obviously raised a lot of funding and spent it on a very effective app that's used by a lot of people so they must be looking for a return on investment somewhere.

Running some sort of bus cum taxi service isn't going to make any serious money and it's very hard to understand who'd be bothered with this offering.

The one certainty has to be that they are going to be trying very hard to monetize their install base one way or another over the next few years.

Eric | 21.02.19 - 2:41 p.m. | #

I have a free maps app on my phone which is sufficient for my needs, and if I want to know what time the next bus is at a bus stop without a countdown display I can text Tfl using the bus stop's text number. Why is Citymapper any different or more useful? Why clutter up my phone with unnecessary apps with which I cannot be bothered?

Margaret | 21.02.19 - 5:19 p.m. | #

Interesting to see that DG had pretty much the same reaction as I did when I read about this yesterday. Not only are there obvious questions about Citymapper's long term objectives but I'm equally bemused by TfL's seemingly relaxed attitude to this development. I also wonder where the political reaction to this development is going to land - in favour, against or non committal?

I'm not the target demographic for this development so I'm also wondering why they've bothered.

PC | 21.02.19 - 6:33 p.m. | #

A good useful "hey when's my next bus/train due" app that isn't bloated as hell is "Transit".
You can save home/work/school/place X just like citymapper does. Recommended.

James Scantlebury | 21.02.19 - 9:42 p.m. | #

The Netherlands has only one public transport card, and there is one fare for the entire country based on a flagfall and distance travelled. This works because it is a small and flat country.

Unlike Oyster, you must buy a new card every 5 years for €7.50 and you must have a minimum balance of €16 to travel by train, even for a journey costing €2. This can only be refunded by post.

If you are visiting Amsterdam or Rotterdam only you can buy a single-use travelcard without paying the €7.50 or any extra charge, which is on the same system as the national card but it won't work outside of the local transport network.

Denmark has a similar system for the entire country, but it is incredibly complicated and there is limited information in English, mainly because if you are not a resident it doesn't make sense to get one.

In Japan the cards only work interchangeably because they are all just variants of the same payment card, just like a MasterCard would work at most shops that have a card reader. The cards can only be used for simple addition and subtraction from your e-wallet.

The transport networks where the cards are used are separate and self-contained, and fares are defined in a table. When you tap in your starting station is recorded on the card. When you tap out the fare is looked up and deducted from your balance. There is nothing special to any network, unlike Oyster which needs to record complicated information about zones and caps. (Of course with the move to back-office Oyster this can change in the future). For example the Tokyo metro offers a 24h unlimited ride pass, but this is not available on the smartcard because it would require a way to record that you have bought a pass on the card, which isn't possible.

John | 22.02.19 - 7:54 a.m. | #

'Starmill' is not impressed:

"I find the way that person has put their view across in text very unhelpful indeed and very difficult to read. They defintely do not get to the point, and their sense of humour isn't well executed. Is it all sarcasm? If so, it seems to add nothing. If it's not, it makes remarkably little sense."

diamond geezer | Homepage | 27.02.19 - 10:59 p.m. | #

The Smart Rides aren't in a black cab, but in a people-carrier minicab.

Guido | 13.03.19 - 12:30 a.m. | #











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