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Citymapper

citymapper.com

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Re: Citymapper

#41

Post by jasoncartwright »

orf wrote: post #28

City mapper is used extensively in London, it’s really really good. They are/where expanding into some form of Citymapper busses which is really interesting. I had the chance to interview there, but I was put off by the absolutely terrible Glassdoor reviews[1] including consistent reports about the CEO and the internal culture. Given that, I’m not too hopeful about the future of Citymapper. Right now they have a head…

Gosh, do people rely on Glassdoor? To turn down an interview? From my experience it's an outlet for people with a personal gripe and far from a good source of internal information about a company.

Re: Citymapper

#42

Post by hluska »

jasoncartwright wrote: post #41
orf wrote: post #28

City mapper is used extensively in London, it’s really really good. They are/where expanding into some form of Citymapper busses which is really interesting. I had the chance to interview there, but I was put off by the absolutely terrible Glassdoor reviews[1] including consistent reports about the CEO and the internal culture. Given that, I’m not too hopeful about the future of Citymapper. Right now they have a head…

Gosh, do people rely on Glassdoor? To turn down an interview? From my experience it's an outlet for people with a personal gripe and far from a good source of internal information about a company.

Yes, people do rely on Glassdoor. I am one of them. I only pay attention to the cons listed in positive reviews. Doing that has saved me from a couple of truly awful environments.

Re: Citymapper

#43

Post by zmk_ »

I like using citymapper in cities where they have coverage, however, on Android (I found) that it simply destroys your battery. In comparison Google Maps is more gentle on memory.

In Poland, a great alternative (that predates citymapper) is jakdojade.pl that does inter-/intra-city transport and ticketing where possible.

Re: Citymapper

#45

Post by prplnrpl »

I worked at Citymapper. The quiet, grim truth of the place is that everyone there is gritting their teeth trying to do work they're passionate about in the face of an exec team who are all gritting their teeth trying to succeed in the face of a CEO who is legitimately abusive toward the people around him.

Everyone is scared of the guy for reasons I don't really understand. Also a lot of the current/ex employees have shares that they/we want to turn into real money, so there is a perverse incentive to keep quiet on the off chance that CM's CEO figures out how to make it a real business. Plus, a lot of our friends still work there. We don't want to shit on them and make their lives even worse.

For context, from one of the cofounders, I had it explained to me that the CEO sometimes loses it and screams at people. Curses at them. Belittles them. It's something everyone manages. I didn't believe it until it happened to me. And again. And again. Everyone tip toes around him. I've watched good people come and go from CM for years now. The best people don't stay. They've gone to DeepMind, Monzo, Lyft, Facebook -- other great companies. The people who stay at CM are mostly too scared to leave or beaten down enough to believe all companies are that bad. The Glassdoor reviews are legitimate. It's a toxic work place.

(edit: clarified the point about shares)

Re: Citymapper

#46

Post by hluska »

half-kh-hacker wrote: post #29

Here in the UK, some schools mandate unpaid 1-3 week work placements. I actually applied for a place at Citymapper and got a promising reply, but eventually I guess it fell through the cracks because I didn't receive any communication after. It would have been really cool to see what goes on in a focused tech company whose product I actually use (and like), but I guess these things happen.

Here is some unsolicited advice from a 42 year old who has spent a career in tech. If you are genuinely interested in a company and get one promising reply, keep following up until you hear 'no'. We were hunter/gatherers for a long time. Hunt the word 'no'.

This isn't an excuse, more a mournful confession. But in startups, things like unpaid work placements tend to fall fairly low on the list of priorities. It isn't that you're not valuable, it's just that in startups, your attention is divided between hundreds of highly valuable things.

If you genuinely want a job, be a squeaky wheel.

Re: Citymapper

#47

Post by tjwds »

CTRL+F'd Philadelphia / Philly and no results, so:

I love this app for getting around Philly. It's spot on for planning out the best time to leave to get somewhere and I really like its UX.

I have saved so much time, hassle, and money when following its suggested routes … whereas with Google Maps or just my current knowledge of Philly transit I would have taken a worse transit option or just taken a cab.

Try it out!

Re: Citymapper

#48

Post by prplnrpl »

0b0001 wrote: post #23

I've been researching why my cities public transport isn't available in Google Maps. Turns out that the (mostly public) transport company assumes itself in competition to app vendors such as Google Maps and Citymapper; the bus company "doesn't own the whole experience anymore". So, while they give access to static routes with some delay, real-time data or accurate data is out of reach. How do companies like Citymappe…

Citymapper (and other similar companies) often have to establish contracts with transit organizations. They have a team of business folks who figure who and how to get API access. Basically boils down to partnerships in the case that there isn't open data. Most companies like this rely heavily on open data though.

Re: Citymapper

#49

Post by jnetterf »

Citymapper is excellent, especially for short trips that can be done in many different ways. Sometimes, for longer trips, Citymapper shows “Uber” or “long walk” as part of a route. In those cases, I would generally prefer to bike, without a bike share. Is there a multimodal transit app that includes transit + cycling?
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