The David to the Goliath of Google Maps: Battling on the Frontier of Transportation

A case study in how a startup can beat the odds

If transportation is the lifeblood of a city, then digital maps are the equivalent of Gray’s Anatomy, the definitive guide to our navigation of a complex system.

I grew up in Hong Kong (whose enviable public transit system makes a multi-billion dollar annual profit), wrote my college thesis on the challenges facing public transit, and worked on Google Maps for several years. As such, I’m always intrigued by new startups trying to tackle an age-old problem: what’s the best way to get from point A to point B?

I’ll reveal my bias here in that I think Google Maps is still one of the best products Google has ever shipped. As a comprehensive digital map, it probably safely claims the crown as the best mapping product ever made (and almost certainly one of the most expensive to produce, given the money poured into Street View, mapping the oceans, capturing aerial imagery etc.).

But how does it rank solely as a transportation app? Specifically, how does it compare to Citymapper, an award-winning app available on both Android and iOS?

The London-based urban transport startup has been on a tear recently, raising a $40M Series B earlier this year from the likes of Index Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Yuri Milner, and others.

Their most recent launch, however, is a game-changer: an algorithm that connects public and private transportation networks.

Take, for example, this trip from Stanford University to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

Citymapper’s latest iOS release supports multimodal transportation (transit + car) for those who do not own private vehicles.

Meanwhile, Google Maps supports users who either exclusively use public transit or have access to a private vehicle for the entire trip. For those in the Bay Area who do not drive or own a car, the former tends to be too time-consuming while the latter is not cost-efficient.

Supporting routing options that use both public transit networks as well as private vehicles is clearly a superior feature. Perhaps Google will modify its algorithm in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, how can a startup like Citymapper most effectively evangelize its vision for the future of transportation?

Extend Platform through Targeted Partnerships

Citymapper already has a few API partners under its belt. To further its reach, it will find the most success by focusing on partners that are city-centric. Broadly, you can categorize these partners as follows:

Government

Public institutions, such as the San Francisco International Airport, not only have an inherent interest in promoting public transit, they should also strive to provide the best experience to domestic and international tourists visiting San Francisco. Even locals may not be aware of all the possible combinations of transportation options.

Local tourism and convention boards also have a role to play. Los Angeles gave business travelers at major conventions free public transit passes to encourage adoption. It’s not a stretch to imagine that these organizations may also want to provide travelers with the best tool to facilitate public transit use.

City-Oriented Companies

Citymapper has already started down this path with Lonely Planet (and, I assume, related competitors in the space), but what about companies like Airbnb? Their “Trip Details” page already includes a link to Google Maps for directions. By explicitly supporting multimodal transportation options, companies such as Airbnb will increase the number of tools at their disposal in their ongoing lobbying of city officials.

Citymapper may also find support from city-specific media outlets such as Hoodline and SF Eater that often provide maps and/or directions to neighborhood locations. These organizations may be attracted to the vision of empowering locals to make the most of local transportation infrastructure.

Corporate Travel Companies

Cost reduction and service enhancement are two of the primary functions of corporate travel agencies and business travel tool providers. Business travelers often default to expensive private car services due to lack of familiarity with a city’s transportation options and perceived efficiency, even when local traffic patterns mean that that a multimodal route would be better (and cheaper!).

As companies such as American Express Global Business Travel and Concur continue to improve their mobile offerings and approved app ecosystem, Citymapper can make the case that their service reduces costs by exposing business travelers to more realistic multimodal transportation alternatives.

Tailor Message to Specific Media Outlets

Citymapper has a Medium blog focused on its technical achievements. That gets you early adopters but the startup can reach a wider audience by focusing on outlets attracted to different messages.

Ideological: Multimodal transit is in the public interest

SPUR, a San Francisco-based urban planning advocacy group, publishes a monthly magazine. With nearly 20k Twitter followers, its supporters are likely to be amenable to a message promoting multimodal transportation and may provide Citymapper with a grassroots bump.

Corporate: Multimodal transportation helps to cut costs

Corporate travel publications, such as Business Travel News, are always on the lookout for cost-cutting innovation stories. A friendly quote from a corporate travel manager, travel agency, or other related service provider may go a long way toward establishing legitimacy.

Lifehack: Multimodal transportation is practical

From lifestyle publications, such as Refinery29, to inflight magazines, such as Delta Sky Magazine, there is almost always room for insider tips on how to best navigate a particular city or more effectively manage tradeoffs between time and money. Citymapper sits in the advertiser sweet spot targeting the carless generation.

Continue to Improve Core Product

With this latest release, Citymapper has already demonstrated a fascinating vision. To the extent that it can continue to improve on existing localized features (ideal station exits, best seat location for platform changes, etc.), it will remain the David to the Goliaths of the transportation world.

As a Bay Area resident, I have two specific feature requests:

1. Support Lyft (and other local Uber competitors): Lyft is gaining traction in the Bay Area and may be a better cultural fit. If a user already prefers Lyft, Citymapper may want to avoid alienating potential users by seemingly choosing sides.
2. Support transit passes: A localized checkbox indicating possession of a transit pass is a useful data point that can improve Citymapper’s algorithm. SmartCommute can even recommend that a user purchase a transit pass if it seems like it would be more cost-effective than one-off tickets given a user’s commuting patterns.