Citymapper launches bus-taxi hybrid Smart Ride in London

Exclusive: transit app firm says new service has stops like a bus, is bookable like a cab and runs on a network like a tube train

London-based transit app Citymapper is today launching Smart Ride, a hybrid bus and taxi service that will take riders around a fixed network in the capital.

The company is operating the service under a private hire licence from Transport for London, following a pair of trial "smart bus" routes in the capital. The new licence limits the firm to operating vehicles that can carry eight or fewer people, but frees it to run future routes that can change dynamically as demand shifts, rather than being legally mandated to stick to specific timetables and stopping patterns.