This case study presents research findings and opportunity areas. It does not represent a redesigned, prototyped, or implemented shuttle experience.
Tool
Figma
Google form
Mural
Zoom
My Role
UX Researcher
Partners
Peiran Xia
Ning Zhang
Time line
January 2026 -
march 2026
The Problem
Current state of the Mission Bay TMA website
Findability
First-time orientation
Spatial understanding
riders
Six methods, each narrowing from context to cause
The study moved from broad grounding to specific rider pain points. Two methods did the heavy lifting — the rest set them up.
01
Literature Review
Grounded the study in transit UX, community-shuttle, and wayfinding research.
02
Mapped the real stop experience — and the near-total absence of signage.
03
Screener Survey
13-question Google Form; recruited across rider types and usage patterns.
04
Heuristic Evaluation
CORE METHOD
Assessed the site against Nielsen's heuristics before involving a single user.
05
Semi-Structured Interviews
CORE METHOD
Six 30-minute sessions, in person at CCA and remote via Zoom.
06
Affinity Mapping
Three-pass LUMA clustering that surfaced nine recurring themes.
What 6 interviews revealed
Three patterns showed up again and again
A small, directional sample — six in-depth interviews. Not statistics, but the same signals kept surfacing.
4
of 6
already had an easy commute
The shuttle isn't a necessity for most — it has to earn its place as an upgrade.
5
of 6
couldn't find the website
Or didn't know it existed at all. Awareness, not quality, is the barrier.
1
of 6
rides it daily
Most use it sporadically — so nearly every rider is a first-time rider, every time.
Q: How do you feel about your commute?
Most riders don't depend on the shuttle. Their commute is already "easy."
4 of 6 described their commute as easy or very easy. Only a few rely on the shuttle daily; others walk or have no fixed commute.
Q: What have your experiences been like?
Riders who use it like it. First-timers hit friction immediately.
3 of 6 praised the ride itself (safe, friendly drivers, uncrowded). But 2 of 6 flagged sharp friction for first-time users: poor signage and confusing navigation.
Key finding
Q: What do you find useful about the website/app?
5 of 6 couldn't navigate the site, used third-party apps, or didn't know it existed.
Only a few found the real-time tracking accurate. The digital experience is where the service loses people — this became the study's central problem.
Q: What was your most recent trip like?
The shuttle is used occasionally, not daily, so everyone stays a beginner.
Most ride sporadically for specific errands (heading downtown, transferring to Muni). Only 1 of 6 rides daily. Some hit barriers like unexpected holiday closures.
Q: What do you like or dislike?
The complaints cluster on discoverability, not the ride.
Riders appreciate cleanliness, safety, and convenient routes — but dislikes centered on inaccurate online schedules, missing physical signage, and confusion about where the route actually goes.
Actionable Insights
I used affinity mapping to cluster interview notes into themes.
Overall sentiment was highly polarized. Some participants absolutely loved the service — rating it highly for safety and friendly drivers. Others felt frustrated by the lack of awareness, poor physical signage, and inadequate digital tracking tools.
What Riders
Loved
Cleanliness, safety, friendly drivers, convenient routes, and uncrowded buses
Inaccurate schedules, invisible physical signage, confusing route maps, and a website most riders couldn't find
Ridership, Discovery, and Digital Experience
The core insight
The problem was never the shuttle
The service is genuinely good. What breaks is everything between the shuttle and the people it's for — a gap of discovery, not quality.
The service works
213,000 rides / year
Free, clean, safe, friendly drivers, convenient routes. Riders who use it rate it highly.
✕ GAP
Discoverability breaks here
No signage at stops
Nobody knows it exists
Unreliable arrival info
Riders it never reaches
5 of 6 couldn't find it
Couldn't locate the website or didn't know the shuttle existed. Empty buses then look unpopular — which quietly discourages the next new rider.
So the design question isn't "how do we make a better shuttle?"
It's "how do we close the gap between a service that already works and the people who can't find it?"
Zooming in on one piece of the problem: the website
Discoverability is the big barrier — and part of it lives online. I audited the site against Nielsen's heuristics to see exactly where a first-time rider gets stuck. Each issue below is written as the moment a real rider feels it.
The verdict wasn't "start over."
The site already works in real ways — essential schedules are reachable, the interface is clean, and it has genuine accessibility support (ADHD, color-blind, seizure, motor). The job is fixing three specific gaps, not rebuilding.
Where a first-time rider gets stuck
HIGH
“Did the bus already leave? I can't tell.”
You're rushing to the stop and the site won't say what's happening right now.
Heuristic: wording isn't action-oriented — no live, plain-language status.
MEDIUM
“Which colored line is mine? They all look the same in the sun.”
Standing outside at the stop, the route colors blur together on a phone screen.
Heuristic: insufficient color contrast between shuttle lines.
LOW
“What does this icon even mean?”
You see a symbol for tracking or accessibility and have to guess its purpose.
Heuristic: non-standard, non-universal iconography.
02
Digital
03
Real time
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