Citymapper to trial Central London minibus route

[vjaska]

Sept 8, 2017 12:55:24 GMT cc2005 said:

Sept 8, 2017 12:43:58 GMT snoggle said:

Time to head to Highbury and Islington tonight. Citymapper's new Night Bus CM2 starts tonight.

content.citymapper.com/news/1834/cm2-night-rider

Shame I can't use it as I don't have a functional contactless bank card and Oyster isn't accepted.

medium.com/citymapper/cm2-night-rider-our-first-commercial-bus-route-d9d7918be899

And if you want to see how to be "funky" and "hip" and still convey your rules and regs then have a look at the FAQ section for the CM2. Very smartly and concisely written - a world away from TfL's legalease approach to explaining how things work. Even the Terms of Carriage are cleverly written but actually out of date for the CM2 which is not a free service. CMX1 in Central London was.

The second link says that buses will be serviced by Tower Transit - I suppose from LI - nice that buses are in TT green

Would be interesting to see whether these are ex-TT buses, and whether they have TT fleetnumbers

Although buses will be serviced by Tower Transit presumably as Citymapper don't have a nearby base, the whole Citymapper operation including vehicles, liveries, fleetnumbers, etc, has absolutely nothing to do with Tower Transit as far as I'm aware.

[Trident]

Sept 8, 2017 12:55:24 GMT cc2005 said:

Sept 8, 2017 12:43:58 GMT snoggle said:

Time to head to Highbury and Islington tonight. Citymapper's new Night Bus CM2 starts tonight.

content.citymapper.com/news/1834/cm2-night-rider

Shame I can't use it as I don't have a functional contactless bank card and Oyster isn't accepted.

medium.com/citymapper/cm2-night-rider-our-first-commercial-bus-route-d9d7918be899

And if you want to see how to be "funky" and "hip" and still convey your rules and regs then have a look at the FAQ section for the CM2. Very smartly and concisely written - a world away from TfL's legalease approach to explaining how things work. Even the Terms of Carriage are cleverly written but actually out of date for the CM2 which is not a free service. CMX1 in Central London was.

The second link says that buses will be serviced by Tower Transit - I suppose from LI - nice that buses are in TT green

Would be interesting to see whether these are ex-TT buses, and whether they have TT fleetnumbers

Impact will be sourcing the buses and drivers from Perivale.

[Hassaan]

Let's hope Impact make a good impact tonight (gets coat )

[towertransit70]

Is this company using minibuses or the green enviro 200 shown on the website?

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

Good luck to them. They have created a market which will get young people onto a bus. Note it's taken a private firm to do this. Have a feeling this one will work out very well and actually expand into areas not covered by TfL.

[Deleted]

£1 fare! surely this is a introduction offer? bargain!

[redwave]

I'd like to see how it covers its costs, once card fees are taken off there's not much left. Tower Transit supplying buses and drivers and that won't be cheap, possibly around £2500 a night?

[vjaska]

Note the unreadable LED blinds on the Enviro 200

[snoggle]

Sept 8, 2017 21:23:26 GMT @rgd976 said:

Good luck to them. They have created a market which will get young people onto a bus. Note it's taken a private firm to do this. Have a feeling this one will work out very well and actually expand into areas not covered by TfL.

I doubt it will last longer than 9 months or so. It clearly acts as a night time replacement for the ELL from Highbury to Hoxton / Shoreditch. TfL are introducing a "Night Overground" from Dec this year between Dalston and New X Gate. It extends to Highbury "later" (probably May next year). Once that starts then people will take the train having changed from the Night Victoria Line and without needing to pay an extra fare or leave the station.

I doubt Citymapper expect this to cover its costs at all. It is clearly part of a wider experiment to see how the public respond and more pertinently how TfL and politicians respond. They are getting in ahead of their competitors which is quite clever and have clearly sought to work with TfL rather than attack them head on like Uber. The data and feedback they gather from this service will no doubt be of far greater strategic and long term value than however many £1 fares they rack up.

[snoggle]

Sept 8, 2017 22:30:51 GMT vjaska said:

Note the unreadable LED blinds on the Enviro 200

Hark is that loud beating sound I hear over the still night air the heart of ServerKing pounding in adoration, as he espies his favoured LED blinds in use on a bus route in London?

[snoggle]

Minibus also operating on the CM2.

[redexpress]

Sept 8, 2017 13:12:07 GMT snoggle said:

I thought they were ex Abellio E200s that have been refurbed and painted green - been discussed here before I'm sure. I doubt LI has anything to do with it. Don't Impact Group have a garage in NW London? That's where it'll work from I assume.

Impact's main base is in Perivale, but I've seen a report elsewhere that the Citymapper E200s were recently parked at Atlas Road.  Whether they are operating from AS or Perivale, I don't know.

Sept 8, 2017 22:44:29 GMT snoggle said:

I doubt Citymapper expect this to cover its costs at all. It is clearly part of a wider experiment to see how the public respond and more pertinently how TfL and politicians respond. They are getting in ahead of their competitors which is quite clever and have clearly sought to work with TfL rather than attack them head on like Uber. The data and feedback they gather from this service will no doubt be of far greater strategic and long term value than however many £1 fares they rack up.

Exactly - I think they've been pretty clear that this is a trial to enable them to get to grips with bus operation.  In the longer term they are probably looking at markets outside of London, where they would have the freedom of deregulation, but the trial is in London for the simple reason that the company is based in London.  As with many other tech companies their main asset is data, and they're still figuring out the many ways that they can use that data profitably.

Maybe a long-term strategy for London would involve some sort of partnership with TfL, whereby TfL would make use of CM's ability to gather and analyse data to shape the transport network.  I certainly can't see CM being allowed to develop an independent bus network of their own within the regulated London system.

[ServerKing]

Sept 8, 2017 22:46:47 GMT snoggle said:

Sept 8, 2017 22:30:51 GMT vjaska said:

Note the unreadable LED blinds on the Enviro 200

Hark is that loud beating sound I hear over the still night air the heart of ServerKing pounding in adoration, as he espies his favoured LED blinds in use on a bus route in London?

Now Leon's off, and when some "Bright Young Thing" takes over, it will happen

Once all the money's gone on electric buses, and cycle lanes no one wants, vans will be the future

[snoggle]

Sept 8, 2017 23:52:01 GMT redexpress said:

Maybe a long-term strategy for London would involve some sort of partnership with TfL, whereby TfL would make use of CM's ability to gather and analyse data to shape the transport network.  I certainly can't see CM being allowed to develop an independent bus network of their own within the regulated London system.

I suspect you are correct. Citymapper have been careful not to put TfL's nose out of joint. The draft Transport Strategy makes it completely clear that TfL will not allow an independent bus network to be created so the potential for tension with new startups is there already. Given the progressive removal of the old agreements (LLSAs) that allowed Travelcard acceptance and the technology issues around Oyster acceptance any "independent" services are going to struggle to be part of the TfL network, partnership or not. I suspect a trial of minibus / demand responsive services will be done with a tech company and bus company partnership and something will be put together in terms of ticketing acceptance. Beyond that though it gets tougher because TfL will want control but the partners will want a decent return in terms of data *and* money.