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Citymapper will this week trial a smartbus which they hope will help revolutionise London’s bus service to respond in real time to passengers’ needs.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, the app firm's first three smartbuses will appear on “the Circulator” – a route that makes an anticlockwise ring in central London, starting at Southwark and passing Blackfriars station, Somerset House, and South Bank.

The small, bright green buses are part of Citymapper’s newly announced Project Grasshopper, in which the firm is trying to learn more about buses by running its own test route.

Like ordinary London buses, Citymapper’s buses will run on a fixed route with scheduled stops – but the project is based around a few key differences compared to the capital's familiar network of large red vehicles.

The firm has developed a software system, meaning its vehicles have tracking software which can count passengers and provide the driver with an app.

“We’ve taken systems that haven’t traditionally talked to each other and integrated them,” said Citymapper in a statement on its website.

Using a tool from the firm’s distinctive green-branded app, the technologists also say they can improve existing routes and identify new and better ones.

The company hopes that buses will even be able to adapt to passengers’ needs in real time.

Omid Ashtari, Citymapper’s president and head of business, told the Standard that it is not yet known how the service will develop, or how much it will cost passengers in the future.

“We will be trying new things with our smart bus and bus technology over the coming months,” said Mr Ashtari.

“We are doing this to start a conversation about the future of cities and are looking forward to engage with anyone who wants to have it.”

Citymapper’s distinctive green-branded app was founded in 2012 to suggest public transport routes for travellers in large cities such as London and New York, alongside estimated journey lengths