Long Beach Circuit
Client: City of Long Beach & Circuit Transit
Role: UX Research & Design
The Impact
Long Beach Circuit is a free electric microtransit service so popular the city won't advertise it: they can't meet the demand they already have. But popularity was hiding a quieter problem. Riders felt anxious and confused at the exact moment they should have felt most confident: the pickup.
Through ethnographic research and stakeholder interviews, I traced that anxiety to a specific, fixable gap: no arrival notifications, no vehicle preview. I designed a geofence-triggered notification system that replaces constant app-checking with two well-timed alerts, then took it from field research to a tested clickable prototype, validated against the same behaviors (zone gaming, app surveillance) the research had surfaced in the first place.
The Problem
The friction wasn't limited to riders. It showed up across the ride, for passengers and drivers alike
● No push notifications
Without alerts, riders either watched the app constantly or risked missing their ride and delaying the driver and other passengers.
● No vehicle preview
The GEM cart is Circuit's most recognizable vehicle, so riders expected one to show up. A sedan or accessible van could catch them off guard or leave them disappointed.
● No in-app tipping
Drivers taped handwritten Venmo and Zelle signs to their headrests, an awkward workaround for both sides.
● No turn-by-turn navigation
New drivers, unfamiliar with the city, were having to use their personal devices for navigation.
Impact vs. Effort Recommendations
High Impact, Low Effort
Push notification system for ride status alerts - eliminates user surveillance behaviors and improves pickup efficiency for both riders and drivers.
High Impact, Medium Effort
Tipping integration with payment app links and card options - significant operational improvement for drivers and enhanced convenience for passengers who choose to tip.
Medium Impact, Low Effort
Vehicle type display - improves pickup identification and manages user expectations, particularly for those hoping for GEM cart rides.
Medium Impact, High Effort
Turn-by-turn navigation integration - primarily benefits non-local drivers and eliminates personal phone dependency, but local drivers may continue using familiar routes.
Low Impact, Low Effort
'Did you know?' civic education pop-ups - may increase user enthusiasm and advocacy among loyal users but unlikely to change service usage patterns since users already appreciate the free, friendly service.
How might we help Circuit passengers feel confident and oriented during pickup, without asking them to babysit an app?
Research & Discovery
Ethnographic research was done by riding the service myself, doing ride-alongs across every service zone, and interviewing riders, drivers, and Circuit's partnerships manager.
Findings
● Riders had no arrival alerts or what vehicle type to expect, so they policed the app themselves
People obsessively monitored the app watching an ETA that could jump from 5 minutes to "arriving now" with no warning.
"I'll look at it two seconds later and it's like, your driver's here and I'm rushing out the door." -Circuit Rider
This was undermining the exact moment Circuit needed to feel effortless: during pickup.
Recommendation: Enable passive monitoring through push notifications eliminating the need to keep the app open while waiting (driver en route, approaching, arrived) and provide arrival predictability through vehicle type display and accurate ETA with real-time updates.
● The app gave drivers no tipping or navigation tools, so they are forced into work arounds.
Homemade tipping signs and using their personal-phone GPS.
That improvisation was undermining the professional image the service was trying to project.
Recommendation: Integrate embedded turn-by-turn navigation within Circuit app with real-time traffic optimization and enable seamless payment options through clickable links to drivers' personal payment apps (Venmo, Cash App, Zelle) or integrated credit/debit card tipping functionality.
● Users appreciate the free service but remain unaware of environmental mission or funding sources
Riders appreciate the free service but remain unaware of environmental mission or funding sources, which is a missed opportunity for advocacy.
Recommendation: Communicate Circuit's broader value through 'Did you know?' pop-ups during wait times sharing funding information, environmental impact data, vehicle accessibility features, and service area details
Design & Testing
Second quarter, from insight to interface:
● Mapped current-state passenger and driver journeys
● Built empathy maps for both
● Defined a tight design focus: give riders passive, trustworthy awareness of their ride status, with no active monitoring required
The solution: a geofence-triggered smart notification system.
When a vehicle enters a roughly 500ft radius of the rider, or when the queue position or ETA shifts by more than two minutes, both rider and driver get a push notification at the same time: vehicle type, driver name, and a stable ETA, with neither of them needing to open the app. I diagrammed the full IoT and backend logic (vehicle GPS stream to Circuit backend to dual notification output) so the concept was technically grounded, not just a nice mockup.
