Citymapper, Google Maps’ popular rival for travelers around major cities, has reported losses of £7.4 million in 2021 – in 2020, its losses were £6.3 million. The figures suggest the company is struggling to find a way to make a profit despite its popularity in the UK and elsewhere.
One of the biggest contributors to the losses was COVID-19. With the UK introducing various restrictions during the pandemic and encouraging people to work from home, the need for apps like CityMapper has diminished. Regarding the impact of COVID-19 and its long-term prospects, the company said:
“In 2021, [Citymapper] It continued to be affected by COVID-19, with movement restrictions and work-from-home guidance in place for most of the year, affecting revenue. Despite this short-term impact, the long-term outlook is positive, with app engagement reaching an all-time high by the second half of 2021 and app usage returning to pre-pandemic levels and the end of the year. Eventually, it will continue to grow organically. In addition to its customers’ lines of business, CityMapper is now uniquely positioned to address the multi-billion B2B mobility technology market.
The company is taking several steps to make itself profitable, for example, showing non-personalized ads to free users. It also offers a paid service for London residents called the City Mapper Pass which gives you access to multiple modes of transport with a travel card including Tube, Bus, Rail, Ride, Black Cabs, Lime e. -Includes bikes and scooters, and Santander cycles. .
This paid option is only for London customers but as it expands a similar offering to other cities, it should help the company become profitable. It has also said that a single pass should work across multiple cities to make things easier for users.
Source: City Mapper (PDF) through The Telegraph (Yahoo! Finance)
