Mapway

What Mapway does

Mapway is a Manchester, United Kingdom-based mobile application developer (legal entity Mapway Limited, founded 2004) that publishes a portfolio of public transport navigation apps covering 30+ cities globally, including London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Berlin, Barcelona, Seoul, Singapore, Toronto, Washington DC, Dubai, and Delhi, alongside UK-specific rail and bus apps (myTrains, Bus Times UK). The company serves a consumer long-tail of commuters, tourists, business travelers, and UK rail users with interactive maps, step-by-step journey planning, real-time and scheduled departure information, offline-capable maps, nearest-station detection, favorites, multilingual support, and fare information. Technically, the apps are mobile-first, offline-capable interactive transit maps with journey planning algorithms and a proprietary push-map-update mechanism that delivers map revisions without requiring App Store updates; the flagship Bus Times London app layers in Augmented Reality navigation built on Apple's ARKit.

Name

Mapway

Legal name

Mapway Limited

Website

https://mapway.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mapway, founded in 2004 in Manchester, publishes public transport navigation mobile apps for 30+ cities worldwide, serving commuters, tourists, and business travelers with interactive maps, journey planning, real-time information, and AR navigation, monetized primarily through advertising and in-app subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Transit Mobile Apps

NAICS

Other Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation (48599)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Multimodal Trip Planning, Routing & Journey Orchestration Platforms (THADALAA)

Keywords

• Public transit apps
• Journey planning
• Metro maps
• Offline navigation
• Real-time transit

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advertising (Primary): Mapway offers free apps monetized primarily through advertising. The company collects device IDs (IDFA/AAID) and location data (with user permission) to deliver targeted, relevant advertisements. Users who decline advertising or location sharing see reduced ads. Third-party ad partners including Google AdMob, Facebook, AppLovin, and Ogury collect data via SDKs.
2. In-App Subscriptions: Mapway offers auto-renewable subscriptions in some applications providing access to premium or enhanced content, priority support via dedicated subscriber email, and early access to new features up to 30 days before non-subscribers. Subscriptions remove advertising and significantly reduce data collection.
3. Pro App Versions: Where available, users can purchase Pro versions of apps which remove advertising and reduce data collection without ongoing subscription costs.
4. Shop & Save Affiliate: Shop & Save feature connects users with merchants through technology and transaction processing partner Kindred, enabling users to receive discounts on online shopping. Mapway and Kindred earn revenue from merchant partnerships.
5. myTrains Ticket Sales: The myTrains app enables users to purchase UK train tickets. Mapway processes payment information (debit/credit card, expiration date, CVV, billing address) through payment service providers to facilitate ticket purchases.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Mapway develops and distributes free public transport mobile applications for 30+ cities worldwide, offering interactive metro maps, journey planning, real-time transit information, and offline-capable step-by-step navigation. The portfolio includes a flagship multi-city Mapway app alongside city-specific apps for London (Tube and Bus), New York, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Berlin, Barcelona, Singapore, Toronto, Washington DC, and many others, plus UK-focused Bus Times UK and myTrains for train ticketing.

Product overview

Mapway is a portfolio of public transport mobile applications offering individual city-specific apps for metro, subway, bus, and tram systems across global cities, alongside a unified flagship Mapway app covering multiple cities. The product line includes 33+ city-specific transport apps for major urban transit networks worldwide, a Bus Times UK app covering nationwide bus services, a myTrains app for UK rail times and ticketing, and travel guides for supported cities. The company also offers premium/subscription versions and features like Shop & Save for merchant discounts. The architecture follows a platform-plus-individual-apps model where the flagship Mapway app serves as a universal journey planner while individual city apps provide focused transit coverage with tailored features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mapway (Worldwide): Global city journey planner app covering multiple cities worldwide
• myTrains
• Bus Times UK

Products and services

• Mapway (Worldwide) Flagship multi-city journey planner app covering multiple global cities, enabling route planning, interactive maps, and step-by-step navigation across public transport networks for individual commuters and travellers.
• Tube Map London Underground Interactive map and journey planner for the London Underground providing step-by-step guides, route visualisation, and disruption-aware directions for London commuters and tourists.
• Bus Times London Live bus times and route planning app for London buses, featuring Augmented Reality navigation, Apple Music playlists integration, and real-time Transport for London information for daily commuters and visitors.
• myTrains UK train times and ticket purchasing app providing live departure and arrival boards for thousands of British rail stations, platform information, fare calculation, and in-app ticket purchasing with peak/off-peak pricing for UK rail passengers.
• Bus Times UK Nationwide UK bus times app covering thousands of bus stops across the UK with live and scheduled information, intended for daily bus commuters.
• New York Subway Interactive map and journey planner for the New York City subway system with route visualisation and step-by-step directions for commuters and visitors.
• Paris Metro Map and Routes Interactive metro map and route planner for the Paris metropolitan subway system covering Métro, RER, and tram lines for tourists and commuters.
• Tokyo Metro Subway Bilingual (English/Japanese) metro map app covering Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway networks with station numbering, fare information, and nearest-station locator for international travellers and residents.
• Toronto Subway Interactive map and journey planner for the Toronto subway system with fares guide and offline-capable maps for commuters and visitors.
• Washington DC Metro Official WMATA Metro map and route planner for Washington DC with points of interest and step-by-step journey guides for commuters and tourists.
• Singapore Metro Interactive map and route planner for Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit system with offline functionality for residents and visitors.
• Tyne and Wear Metro Interactive metro map and journey planner for the Tyne and Wear Metro system in North East England with push-to-update map technology.
• Barcelona Metro Interactive TMB metro map and route planner for Barcelona with route visualisation for commuters and visitors.
• Beijing Subway Metro map and journey planner for Beijing's subway system covering stations, routes, and fares.
• Berlin by Subway Metro map and route planner for Berlin's U-Bahn system with route visualisation and step-by-step guidance.
• Travel Guides Companion travel guides available for cities covered by Mapway apps, providing navigation tips and local information for visitors.

Quantifiable outcome

• 65 million+ total app downloads demonstrating broad consumer adoption and trust

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Trainline: Trainline is Europe's leading independent train and rail ticket retailer. The myTrains app is directly comparable to Trainline's mobile offering for UK rail times and ticket purchasing, with similar transaction-based revenue model.
• Moovit: Moovit is a global transit navigation app owned by Intel, serving 800M+ users across many of the same cities Mapway covers. Comparable product (urban multimodal transit), comparable target users, and a strong MaaS/B2B franchise Mapway currently lacks.
• Transit: Transit is a multimodal urban transit app with strong North American presence and growing international coverage. Direct competitor to Mapway's city apps with similar product features (real-time, trip planning, multimodal).
• Citymapper: Citymapper is a direct competitor offering multimodal urban transit journey planning apps across major global cities. It is the most directly comparable product to Mapway (Worldwide) and overlaps on city coverage and target users (commuters and tourists).
• Jorudan: Jorudan is a leading Japanese transit route-planning service with strong APAC mobile presence. Overlaps with Mapway on Japanese-language transit functionality and complements the bilingual Tokyo app offering.
• NAVITIME: NAVITIME is a Japan-headquartered transit navigation specialist covering Tokyo, Osaka and other APAC metros, directly competing with Mapway's Tokyo Metro, Beijing, Seoul, and Singapore apps in multilingual transit navigation.

Emerging players

• Rome2Rio: Rome2Rio is a multimodal trip planner covering intercity and city transport worldwide. Comparable on the journey-orchestration layer and target audience (international travelers), but with broader long-distance focus versus Mapway's urban intra-city focus.
• Omio: Omio (formerly GoEuro) is a travel booking platform covering trains, buses and flights across Europe. Comparable on the MaaS/multimodal journey planning and ticketing layer, with stronger European booking monetization than Mapway's myTrains.

Broad incumbents

• Google Maps: Google Maps is a default-installed general navigation platform with built-in transit routing across virtually every city Mapway covers. Massive incumbency advantage on data and distribution; competes with Mapway on journey planning and real-time transit info.
• Apple Maps: Apple Maps ships with every iOS device and has invested heavily in transit routing and Look Around. Reduces Mapway's value-prop on iOS where Apple Maps is a one-tap default for many users.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MapwayApps
• Facebookfacebook.com/Mapwayapps

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mapway