Favorite Product: Citymapper
First, some context
I moved to New York City in March 2025. I went from driving around my hometown on roads I’ve known all my life to navigating the city via subway transfers, Citibikes, and buses. The number of times I’ve gotten on a train going the wrong way… well, it’s not too many, but it happens. Getting around using public transit can be confusing and frustrating (train leaving right as you walk into the station! being asked to get off the subway and take a bus, making you half an hour late!) — so I’m all for anything to improve the experience.
Enter, Citymapper
First it was recommended by a friend, then an Uber driver — they both said it was better than Google Maps, my tried and true.
Citymapper is a navigation app that is particularly suited to navigating the transit systems of large cities. Totally unnecessary in Reno, Nevada, but my lifeline as a new-New Yorker. I rely on it regularly and have convinced several friends of its superiority.
Here are two specific reasons why I love Citymapper and choose it over Google Maps when I’m getting around New York:
1. Google is a robot, Citymapper is your friend
Google Maps’ algorithm is optimized to get you to your destination as fast as possible using the most logical steps. It feels a bit like the “official” operating instructions; it’s going to suggest the most obvious path. It will direct you to the closest bus or the closest subway to start your journey. From there it will keep you on a combination of trains and buses. It usually keeps walking time on both ends under 15 minutes. When a route is simple Google’s approach is efficient, but when you’re looking down the barrel at a 50-minute transit time that involves two transfers — just know, there is a better way.
Citymapper’s directions are more creative, more like the directions a friend would give, and the routes are often just as fast, if not faster. By default, Citymapper seems programmed to show routes that involve the fewest transfers. It might recommend you walk for 20 minutes, but then you only have to take one train, which is more aligned with how a lot of New Yorkers get around. It’s also easy to toggle different settings - view routes with the least amount of walking, routes that only use the subway (no buses), or vice versa. This approach to directions is Citymapper’s secret sauce and its most defensible differentiator over Google Maps.
2. Gatekeep? Citymapper would never
Being new to the city, it’s enough for me to be getting on the right train, going in the right direction, but advanced riders know tricks that would have taken me years to learn. Most people (me) think of a subway stop as a single point on a map. What I’ve since learned is it’s actually a line that spans a whole city block. If you get on at the back of the train and need to exit at the other side of the station, you now have to walk through a steamy, hot subway station — and if you didn’t take that into consideration and you’re in a rush (which we always are), this can make you late.
Again, Citymapper acts like a friend. It shows you which part of the train to get on (front, middle, or back), so you’re positioned closest to the exit you should use at your destination. I love this because it’s insider information: something someone using the subway for years might have figured out. Citymapper gives it to me for free. And stepping out of the train to find myself steps away from the exit turnstile is so satisfying.
Google Maps has introduced this feature and I would argue it is meh. Which brings me to the secret third reason I love Citymapper.
3. It’s cute
Have you heard that dogs evolved through “survival of the friendliest,” rather than “survival of the fittest”? Citymapper’s cuteness, its friendliness is part of its survival strategy. It’s hard for a smaller app like Citymapper to compete with Google Maps. Google has the resources to build features like “best boarding position”, but it doesn’t do it with the same flair. Citymapper dominates on personality.
My avatar on the map is the owl emoji. When a walk is over 15 minutes, the walking-man avatar has a backpack and a walking stick to suggest your walk is going to be a bit of a hike. The graphic of the train showing the best section to board has a friendly illustration of a cartoon waving from the train car. These charming details are part of what won me over and what keeps me coming back.