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Why we love Citymapper: an award-winning journey planning app.

Written by Via Transportation | Oct 12, 2023 4:00:00 AM

Helping passengers find their way around a new city or the quickest way to get to work isn’t always straightforward. Not just because understanding foreign transit maps can seem impossible and planning trips using multiple apps is cumbersome, but because passengers’ needs may change day to day. Enter Citymapper.

Both personalised and global, Citymapper offers a unified and comprehensive way to plan travel that combines transport modes. Thanks to its extensive knowledge of the transport network in every city where it’s available, its ability to quickly respond to passengers’ unique needs, and a best-in-class user experience, Citymapper has captured the hearts of over 50 million users around the world — and is the newest addition to Via’s transport software portfolio. So why was Citymapper one of Apple’s App of the Year 5 years in a row? 

Unexpectedly local.

In every city in which Citymapper operates, the app looks slightly different — icons mimic the local transport vehicles and signage, characters wear the kit of local sport clubs  — to ensure passengers immediately recognize the transport network they’re used to and trust the app itself. But the local feeling goes beyond just looks. The app offers passengers tailored journey recommendations that reflect the transport options uniquely available to them and alerts them to any unforeseen service disruptions. Whether it’s choosing a journey that avoids busy roads so they can cycle safely, or one that combines multiple modes to get them to their destination as fast as possible, Citymapper makes transport feel both local and personal.

Powerfully accurate.

Custom journey proposals are just the beginning. Citymapper’s transport information has unmatchable reliability and accuracy that keeps passengers coming back to the app — and public transport — time and time again. Unlike other journey-planning apps, Citymapper’s unique approach is all about curating transport data, not just collecting it.  Citymapper’s data analytics team built a system that cleans up data before feeding it back to passengers in real-time. Transport data is collected by Citymapper across thousands of sources and run through a suite of over 30 proprietary tools operated by highly-trained data analysts. The process is constantly improved as Citymapper, and the data analytics team, learns from working with data across hundreds of cities. Citymapper’s process is simultaneously scalable across cities of all sizes and hyper-local, to ensure passengers around the world can benefit from the same level of accuracy. As a result of Citymapper’s data processes, passengers can plan trips that get them where they need to go, on time, every time.

Delightfully intuitive.

Citymapper’s journey-planning was built to make planning travel intuitive. The app is constantly learning from passenger choices and responding to real road and transport changes to offer optimal journey proposals and routing in an easy to use and extremely detailed experience. The Citymapper team also regularly releases both groundbreaking features and small details that make the app feel personal and delightful to use. Features like night safe walking options, lock screen navigation, and service disruption notifications have helped grow a deeply loyal user base who aren’t shy about bringing their friends on board.

 

Want to learn more about how Citymapper can help grow transport patronage in your city? Reach out to us