HopStop Bought By Apple For Public Transit Data

Hot on the heels of its acquisition of Locationary, Apple has bought transit site and cityguide HopStop for an undisclosed amount. It’s an ugly site that has very useful public transit schedules, maps and related information.

The value of the data to Apple Maps is obvious.

HopStop launched in 2005 and evolved over the years into a local search site or cityguide to broaden its appeal. The core data and use case surround transit information, however.

Like Waze (recently acquired by Google), HopStop also offers crowdsourced and real-time information on traffic, transit and delays.

HopStop says that it provides “door-to-door transit, walking, biking, and taxi directions in over 300 cities worldwide.” Its iOS and Android apps have also been very popular.

The company received at least a couple of rounds of funding, although I was unable to determine precisely how much. Google paid more than $1 billion for Waze; I would be surprised if HopStop sold for more than $50 million.

Together with Locationary, HopStop promises to help Apple greatly improve the quality of the location and transit data available through Apple Maps.