We tried Citymapper’s experimental ‘pop-up’ bus that’s running in central London right now

LONDON – If you’re down near Blackfriars or Waterloo this week, you might spot something unusual on the roads.

Citymapper has launched an experimental “pop-up” bus.

The London transport app is branching out into developing bus software, it announced on Monday. To kick its efforts off, it is running a temporary bus route (“CMX1”) in central London.

The vehicles are pretty distinctive – they’re bright green! – and run in a circular route at the heart of the British capital on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Early on Tuesday morning, I headed down to check out what all the fuss was about:

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Here's where my journey began: Outside the Royal Courts of Justice at 7.50AM. The bus runs via official London bus stops, but there's nothing to advertise it at the stop. (You can check their locations via the app.)

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As I waited, I saw a big green vehicle approaching in the distance. Could this be the Citymapper bus?

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No, it's just a rubbish truck.

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Then a few minutes later, success! The bus. They're more like shuttle buses than London's traditional double-deckers, and Citymapper says the smaller design is "nimbler."

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First thing you notice: It's green. Real green.

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Green seats, green livery, green signage.

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The whole thing is free right now, because charging customers would require Citymapper to get a license from TfL, London's transport regulator.

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Plus, this isn't really a money-making exercise just yet. Citymapper is using the trial to test its software in the real world and iron out issues before trying to sell it to bus operators. It's a proof-of-concept.

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The company wants to "reinvent" buses, providing more information to drivers, operators, and passengers to improve routing, scheduling, and management.

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As a passenger on the bus, one of the big features is the screen up front that shows you where you are on the route — providing significantly more information than TfL bus signs do.

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And there are USB ports beneath the seats, which is a neat touch.

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The driver, meanwhile, gets a tablet that can provide them with information on traffic and lets them communicate with HQ.

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So what did ordinary people think of the bus? Well, it's tough to say. I was the first passenger on this bus. (There are three in circulation.)

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After a while, three people got on ... but they all worked for Citymapper, and wanted to check out how the bus was doing.

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Then another two passengers got on. Could they tell me their impressions? Nope, also Citymapper employees.

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Eventually, a real person — Ross — got on. (No photo, sorry!) He worked in the industry, he said, and wanted to check it out. He liked it.

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My journey was relatively early, before rush hour, so perhaps it's unsurprising that there were few passengers. Plus it's running for just two days — not many people will integrate it into their schedule, though Citymapper will recommend it in the main app if it's the fastest route to your destination.

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It's all clearly still early days. Citymapper employees spent the journey making notes and tinkering, seeing how the screen looked from different angles, and waiting to talk to passengers.

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The route itself is lovely, through Temple and Fleet Street, and across the Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges with their views of the Houses of Parliament. But after my second complete loop, it started to get a bit Groundhog Day-esque, and I finally hopped off — passing the bus' next passenger on my way out.

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Jeremy Burge, the creator of emoji resource site Emojipedia, also rode a Citymapper bus. He was positive about it, telling me: "I don't usually take the bus much as I have to keep an eye on where I'm going on my phone the whole time. The screen on the bus with the map and time to next stops surprised me. Did make quite a difference."

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He added: "But otherwise a pretty regular experience! Hop on, sit down, get where you're going."

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In short: It's just a bus. But that's the whole point. Citymapper's most interesting work is going on behind-the-scenes — and it hopes to make a big difference to how public transport networks operate.