Thread by @tarabluesky

Yesterday evening a delightfully peaceful and well-mannered courier called and handed me this from @Citymapper 💚

I'm excited because I love companies changing the commercial model of their sector. Interestingly I paid for this almost a month ago and the earliest I can use it is Monday, so clever @Citymapper have had my cash for a month and probably used it to pay for the PASS and delivery.

Here's what I've bought. I'm curious to see whether I get value for money from it because it's £3.90 more than a zone 1-2 Travelcard (@JuliaKingsford)

I'm not activating mine yet because I don't think I'll get the most out of it right now. I've got a crazy week with the Darling Neph in the Easter holidays and that's when I reckon I'll get the best value from it.

The only drawback I can see now, as a consumer, is that I can only start my @Citymapper PASS week on a Monday, which is annoying because I'd like to start it on a Saturday.

(I forgive them for holding my money for a month. Innovations take cash to get off the ground.)

What's most fascinating is the balance of short term risk v longer term gain @Citymapper have calculated. E.g. whilst @TfL are very forward-looking and sharey, there's no way a publicly accountable body would give up a penny of revenue, so Citymapper are subsidising there.

Perhaps that @tfl price subsidising will be offset by consumers either underspending or overspending on @Citymapper Rides (taxi/bus hybrid, limited routes and frequencies, paid per person) for which I have a £10 credit. Nicely, I get a free +1 (the Darling Neph at Easter).

The big questions are: will the @Citymapper #PASS facilitate behaviour change? Will Londoners use their #PASS to the absolute max? And will we care if we don't because, frankly, an extra £3.90 a week is a rounding error in a city as expensive as London?

I am giving @Citymapper a *standing ovation* for this. If #PASS owners want to max out on benefits we're going to search *every* journey on Citymapper.

They've taken a calculated punt on becoming London's operating system.

Think about that - LONDON'S TRANSPORT OPERATING SYSTEM.

Nice one, @Citymapper. I'm excited to see what the market feeds back to you.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk about #mobility #innovations

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