User Need Identification in a Suburban Community for Implementation

of Residential Mobility Solutions

Rahul Mehendiratta











THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Of Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Graduate College of
University of California at Berkeley, 2014


Berkeley, California




1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Professor Alice Agogino for her invaluable guidance, encouragement
and patient reviews. I would also like to express my gratitude towards Mr. Rasheq Zarif,
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development, North America for providing us all the
relevant data for researching at the community. Without his continuous support and
perseverance this project would not have been possible. Many thanks to Aadityeshwar
Singhdeo, Gregory Quan, Saddiq Nuru and Weishi Wu for guidance and help.
And finally, I am obliged to my parents, brother, and numerous friends who endured this
process with me, offering me love and support.

Rahul Mehendiratta



2
ABSTRACT
There has been a recent influx of people towards densely populated urban cores or cities (U.S. census
bureau), where numerous transportation services are readily available. As a result, lengthy daily
commutes, and the need to own private automobiles have decreased. A recent study by Davis et al.
reveals that young people are already driving less than their counterparts from ten years ago. This puts
the American car market at risk of becoming saturated. We tried to identify need for alternatives to car
ownership, including public, rental, taxi, and car sharing services but, on a smaller scale. Their effects and
benefits on a sub-urban community were studied. A unique combination of different transportation
services was suggested in hope of alleviating the problems of this community. In this paper, I tried to
identify the important needs of the residents who would use this alternative mode of transportation.
Data was gathered from the residents via focus group meetings, mini surveys and in-depth questionnaires.
Based on the raw data we concluded that we might need a combination of services to alleviate the
transportation problems of the target community. The data was then sorted into primary, secondary or
tertiary needs based. These needs were categorized by their significance to the concerned parties,
namely, residents, real estate developer and the service provider. We used these needs to define various
features and specifications of the service. Eventually, we suggest a semi-dynamic shuttle in combination
with a car sharing service to cater to the needs of the residents.




3
LIST OF FIGURES
DESCRIPTION Page No.

Figure 1. Fewer young people are getting drivers licenses today than in 1983.2
Figure 2. Customer Need activity in the concept generation cycle.8
Figure 3. Statements-Identification Table Layout9
Figure 4. Demand over the Weekdays.11
Figure 5. Demand over the Weekends12
Figure 6. Route Preview13












4
LIST OF EXHIBITS
DESCRIPTION Page No.
Exhibit 1. Density of the Villages.20
Exhibit 2. Teen Focus Group Statement Table21
Exhibit 3. Identified Destinations for the Teen Focus Group..21
Exhibit 4. Adult Focus Group Statement Table..22
Exhibit 5. Identified Destinations for the Adult Focus Group...23
Exhibit 6. Senior Focus Group Statement Table.23
Exhibit 7. Identified Destinations for the Senior Focus Group....24
Exhibit 8. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the Teens...24
Exhibit 9. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the Adults25
Exhibit 10. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the seniors..26
Exhibit 11. Shuttle Demand on the weekdays.27
Exhibit 12. Shuttle Demand on the weekends...28
Exhibit 13. Popular destinations around the community...28
Exhibit 14. Destination Preferences 1..29
Exhibit 15. Destination Preferences 2..29
Exhibit 16. Destination Preferences 3..30
Exhibit 17. Destination Preferences 4..30
Exhibit 18. Destination Preferences 5..31
Exhibit 19. Destination Preferences 6..31
Exhibit 20. Destination Preferences 7..32
Exhibit 21. Destination Preferences 8..32
Exhibit 22. Car Sharing Spots..33


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.9
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS...12
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS.17
REFERENCES.18
APPENDIX A...20
APPENDIX B...21
APPENDIX C...27
APPENDIX D...29


6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Mercedes-Benz has a storied, rich history as a manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Karl Benz created the
first automobile in 1886, and the company has been innovating ever since.
With technological advancements and changing ideologies, various alternatives to car ownership have
flocked the industry. Car ownership has declined since it peaked at 1.1 cars per licensed driver in 2001.
Goldman Sachs also predicts that the North American new car sales market will decline to 15 million
vehicles by 2020. While other markets will grow significantly, the United States new car market appears to
have peaked. Therefore, it might be in Mercedes best interest to tap into these other markets.



Figure 1. Fewer young people are getting drivers licenses today than in 1983. (Davis et. al)

We began with segmenting the alternate mobility market based on the services available based on (i) Type
of Trip, i.e., either Single trip or Round Trip, and (ii) Vehicle Ownership, i.e., Corporate Ownership,

7
Fractional Ownership or Peer-to-Peer Ownership.
In a Single Trip Model an individual uses the service just to travel from one point to another, as compared
to Round Trip Model in which the individual completes the whole circle and arrives back to the starting
point using the service.
In the other basis of classification, in a Corporate Ownership a corporation or a company owns the service
and charges money from the individuals who use it, either on an hourly basis or based on vehicle miles
travelled. In case of a Fractional Ownership model, a group of individuals own the vehicle or transportation
service which they share among themselves. Therefore, each individual owns a fraction of the service, and
hence the name. While, in case of Peer-to-Peer Ownership, an individual who owns the vehicle or service,
lends it to another individual in exchange of monetary benefits.
On further segmentation of the market the services can be classified into Car Sharing, Ride Sharing,
Carpooling, Bus or Shuttle, Taxis, Car Rental and Public Transportation Services.
A Car Rental service includes corporations or individuals lending automobiles for short period of
time in exchange of a fee. It is often organized with numerous local branches and is primarily
located near airports or busy city areas. On the other hand, Ride Sharing or Carpooling pertains
to individuals or commuters sharing a ride or transportation to a common destination. A Car
Sharing model is a type of car rental where individuals rent cars for short periods of time, either
by the hour or vehicle miles travelled. A Taxi is another form of service where a vehicle is available
for hire, along with a driver, used by a passenger or small group of passengers often for a non-
shared ride. Public Transportation service includes regular operation of transit buses along a
route, calling at agreed bus stops according to a public transport timetable. It can be classified
into urban transportation, Long distance transportation, Flexible or Specialist services.


8
Neighborhood Mobility Services
Neighborhood mobility services are another alternative to car ownership which are defined by
short distance movements restricted mainly to local housing market (generally a town or a city).
According to Shaheen and Cohen, Neighborhood and Residential, is the staple demographic for
car sharing, accounting for 81.7% of the existing car sharing membership. Neighborhood car
sharing is actively being promoted through developer and building policies with tax benefits,
especially with existing developments (property managers).
Neighborhood mobility services can be classified into either Open-door and Closed-door systems.
In an Open door service a vehicle is placed in an apartment complex or parking garage but is
available for use to carsharing members. While, in a Closed-door service the vehicle is placed in
a limited-access location, such as a gated apartment complex, and is only available to members
of those communities.
Shaheen and Cohen (2005) also predict that in North America, the industry may support more
closed-door applications, as property managers share risk in vehicle placement.







9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Griffin and Hauser (1993) customer input should be taken into consideration throughout
design, Manufacturing and service delivery. According to them, the industry has evolved to consider the
customer input which has been termed as customers voice. The customer voice is a hierarchical set of
needs, where each need is assigned a priority indicating its importance for the customer. Also, developing
products based on customer needs has become a key criterion in total quality management.
They also suggest use of a hierarchical structure to classify needs into primary, secondary and tertiary
categories. Primary needs are used to set the strategic direction for the product or service. Primary need
is further divided into a secondary needs (also known as tactical needs), and they tell the team how the
customer judges clarity. The secondary needs are further classified into tertiary needs (or Operational
needs) which provide engineering details or specifications of the product. They also argue that perception
of importance of a particular need varies from person to person, and its finally upon the QFD (Quality
function deployment) team to make decisions which balance the cost of fulfilling a customer need with
the desirability (to the customer) of fulfilling that need.

According to Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger, an essential part of concept development phase
includes identification of customer needs. These needs are used in establishing specifications, generating
concepts and finalizing the final concept. They believe that new customers are good source of needs
because they experience new needs ahead of most customers and because they stand to benefit
substantially from new innovations. They also argue that latent needs might be more important than the
explicit needs as most customers cannot articulate in advance.
According to the authors, identification of customer needs includes the following steps:

10
Gathering customer raw data
Interpreting the data in terms of customer needs
Organizing needs into hierarchy
Establishing relative importance of needs
The authors stress a lot expressing needs in terms of what the product has to do and not on how it should
have been implemented. According to them, Adherence to this principle leaves the development team
with flexibility to generate and select product concepts.
Lilien et.al. Studied the lead user (LU) process for idea generation process for new product development
process. The lead user process collects both the needs and solutions from users at the leading edges of
the target market, as well as from users in other markets that face similar problems in a more extreme
form. They conducted a research at the 3M Company, to compare outcomes by LU idea generation
process with those using more conventional approaches. They observed a higher forecasted market
share (on average, 68% vs. 33% for non-LU ideas) than did those from more conventional methods.(Page
1055, Discussion Paragraph 1). The LU Idea-Generation process consisted of following phases:
Goal Generation and Team formation where a team is formed and ideation-goal for a project is
decided.
Trend Research where team focusses on identifying market and technical trends in the field
During the LU pyramid networking, team focusses on identifying the leading users of the identified
trends and learn about their needs and solution suggestions.
During the LU workshop and idea improvement, lead users work with company personnel to
improve the preliminary concepts generated.
Suen et al. believe that a range of mobility solutions can be administered to solve the issues related to
mobility of seniors. However, residents of sub-urban areas face the problem of not having access to

11
spontaneous and independent services. They also argue that innovative third party services might be
needed to cater to the needs of small to medium-sized communities. It is also stated that the travel
patterns of the seniors are generally defined on the basis of their functional ability, particularly for the
very old and human factors assessment can be used for operational design and service delivery. They also
suggest examining the needs and abilities from the users perspective to create a tailored outreach
solutions.
Todd Litman argues in his paper that accessibility or ability to reach desired goods, services, activities and
destination is a better parameter to judge effectiveness, as it is the ultimate goal of most transportation
services. Presently, many planning and evaluation practices favor automobile transportation over
alternative modes and mobility management despite diminishing benefits and increasing costs of road
expansion and parking costs for the earlier, because they favor traffic-based (vehicle movement) or
mobility-based (people and goods movement) analysis. Peoples transportation needs and abilities,
affordability of transport options, degree of connectivity and land use pattern are some of the factors that
affect their accessibility. The author concludes that a better understanding of accessibility can help
identify truly optimal solutions to the transportation problem, many of which are best solved by improving
the convenience and comfort of alternative modes, providing better user information, and improving
connections among nodes.






12
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
The process of need identification is an essential part of the product development process, and has been
shown in Figure 2.
The complete process was divided into 4 basic processes:


Figure 2. Customer Need activity in the concept generation cycle (Karl T. Ulrich et. al.)
A. IDENTIFYING THE CUSTOMER
The first step dealt with identification of the customers we would cater to. This was done to better utilize
the limited amount of resources at our disposal. We looked at the demographic data and identified the
villages which would give acceptable results, requiring minimum quantity of resources at the same time.
1. Villages which had higher preference were located ideally around the destinations (neither too
close, nor too far).
2. Regions with higher serviceable population were a preference.
3. Regions that lie along the route while mapping the popular destinations were also included.
Based on the above parameters, we decided to service villages 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 & 9. (The demographic
distribution of population among the villages can be referred from Appendix, Exhibit 1).



Identifying
The
Customer
Residents
Need
Identification
Deciding
The
Specifications
Finalizing
The
Service

13
B. NEED IDENTIFICATION
The next step consisted of identification of needs of the residents of the respective villages. But the
variation in population residing in these regions made it difficult. The entire population was then divided
into three categories, namely, teens, adults and seniors. The school and college going population, included
everyone below 21 years of age, and was called Teens. The population between 21 and 54 years of age
was clubbed together in a single category and was referred to as Adults. While, everyone who was more
than 54 years of age was considered in the Seniors category.
Information about daily commutes and preferences was collected by Mercedes-Benz by organizing focus
group interviews for each section separately. Each of these interviews lasted around 90 minutes each and
dealt with various topics including destination preferences, pick up locations, operating hours and
suggestions for service specifications. Insightful statements were jotted down in a tabular format for
easier interpretation. The format of the table is depicted in Figure 3.

S. No.
GROUP NAME
Customer Statements Needs Identification
Figure 3. Statements-Identification Table Layout

A lot of insights were collected from these interviews, which also helped us in framing the service.
Important insights from the Teen Focus Group are listed in Exhibit 2 of the Appendix. In addition to all
these statements, popular destinations among interviewees in this group were also listed out and
recorded in Exhibit 3.

14
Similarly, a lot of useful insights were collected from the Adult Focus Group and popular destinations
identified were listed (Exhibits 4 &5).
Insights were also collected from the senior focus group, and popular destinations were identified.
(Exhibits 6 & 7).
C. CREATING THE HIERARCHY
The insights were eventually written in the form of statements to express the needs of the residents.
These needs are arranged in form of a debrief sheet. I was also made sure that the needs were written
exactly as said by the interviewees. The needs were then arranged in a hierarchical manner. The
categorization began with primary needs, which were further broken down into secondary ones, and
finally into tertiary needs.
As explained by Griffin and Hauser [1993 pg. 16], the needs were prioritized based on their importance
for the customer as interpreted by the team. The priority list was a 3-level structure, Very Important (***),
Relatively Important (**) and Important (*). This was done because the hierarchical list by itself does not
provide any help in identifying relative importance. The perception of relative importance among the
needs is useful in making trade-offs accurately. This prioritization is based on consensus of all the team
members and their assessment of surveys and interviews.
The hierarchical need structures and prioritization ratings for teens, adults and seniors can be found in
Exhibits 8, 9 & 10 of the Appendix.
D. DECIDING THE SPECIFICATIONS
Major requirements for the Teen Focus Group included a Need for the School Bus service, A Car Sharing
service for weekend trips, and be exclusive for community. Also, the service had to cover all the

15
destinations suggested by them and not take twice the time which their parents take to drop them. From
the Adults point of view, Time and Convenience was the major requirement, while covering their
preferred destinations. Therefore, the length and time of the journey became a crucial factor for the
service.
In case of the seniors, there was a need for a comfortable, convenient and reliable service, which has a
simple interaction interface and is affordable. This brought into considerations about the user interface
and price point of the service.
Therefore, according to the focus group interviews, an ideal service would cover all the suggested
destinations, be time efficient, comfortable, convenient, reliable, and affordable with easy to operate user
interface.

Another set of survey was also conducted, where people were asked to select their destination
preferences distributed over different time slots over the day and divided into whether its a weekday or
a weekend. The results of the survey can be referred in Exhibits 11 & 12 for weekdays and weekends
respectively.
All the destinations were then grouped together according to their geographical locations, into the
different sections in Exhibit 13. These even included the destinations outside the community.
We also looked at the demand over the day to figure out the frequency at different times over the day.

16

Figure 4. Demand over the weekdays



Figure 5. Demand over the Weekends
Also, Graphs were plotted for different destination preferences at different times of the day, to help with
the destination selection. They can be seen in Exhibit 14 through Exhibit 20.


0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
7-9am 9am-12pm 12-3pm 3-6pm 6-9pm
D
E
M
A
N
D

P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
TIME OF DAY
Demand on Weekdays
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
7-9am 9am-12pm 12-3pm 3-6pm 6-9pm
D
E
M
A
N
D

P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
TIME OF DAY
Demand on Weekends

17
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS
Based on the diversity in geographical locations of the populations, we decided to suggest a combination
of Shuttle and Car Sharing service.
The Shuttle Service suggested is semi-dynamic in nature, i.e., it changes its Route during different times
of the day and whether it is over a Weekday or a Weekend. The Route consisted of all the popular
destinations that were identified.
The Shuttle Service would be working in conjunction with a Car Sharing service operated by Mercedes-
Benz. Ideally, they would have Parking spots right next to the Shuttle Stops. This was done to be efficiently
cover a lot of destinations. Although, the final locations of the spots has not been finalized yet, we plan
to have a spot at each of the preferred destinations outside the community. As for the locations inside
the community, spots suggested during the focus group interviews are considered the ideal locations to
place the vehicles. These locations are listed in Exhibit 21.

Figure 6. Route Preview


18
REFERENCES
B. Davis et al., Transportation and the New Generation: Why Young People are Driving Less and What It
Means for Transportation Policy, U.S. PIRG Education Fund & Frontier Group, Santa Barbara, CA, 2012
Coleen Clementson. Comprehensive Land Use and Regional Growth Projects, Sustainable Communities
Strategy [Online: Accessed on 4/10/2014].
Available: http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?projectid=360&fuseaction=projects.detail
D. Schrank et al., TTIs 2012 Urban Mobility Report, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College
Station, TX, December 2012
Don Norman, Design of Everyday things, New York, 2013
E. Martin et al., Impact of carsharing on household vehicle holdings: results from North American
shared-use vehicle survey, Journal of Transportation Research Board 2143:150-158
Gary L. Lilien, Pamela D. Morrison, Kathleen Searls, Mary Sonnack, Eric von Hippel, Performance
Assessment of the Lead User Idea-Generation Process for New Product Development, Management
Science, 2002
Griffin, Abbie and John R. Hauser, The Voice of the Customer, Marketing Science, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1993
J. P. Wilkinson, Communications and computing based urban transit system, US 6697730 B2, April 04,
2001.
Litman, Todd, Evaluating Accessibility for Transportation Planning: Measuring Peoples ability to reach
desired goods and activities, Victoria transport Policy Institute, September 2012.
N. D. Chan and S. A. Shaheen, "Ridesharing in North America: Past, Present, and Future," UC Berkeley
Institute of Transportation Studies, Berkeley, CA, Transport Reviews 32.1 (2012): 93-112, December 2,
2011
S. A. Shaheen and A. Cohen, Innovative Mobility Carsharing Outlook: Carsharing Market Overview,
Analysis, and Trends - Summer 2013, UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center,
Berkeley, CA, 2013
S. A. Shaheen and A. Cohen, Carsharing and Personal Vehicle Services: Worldwide Market
Developments and Emerging Trends, UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center,
Berkeley, CA, 2013
S. A. Shaheen and A. Cohen, Carsharing and Personal Vehicle Services: Worldwide Market
Developments and Emerging Trends, UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center,
Berkeley, CA, 2013
S. A. Shaheen, Planning Services to Complement Transit: Ridesharing, Bikesharing & Carsharing, in The
UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium on the Transportation - Land Use - Environment Connection, Lake
Arrowhead, CA, 2013

19
S. A. Shaheen, et al., Carsharing in North America: Market Growth, Current Developments, and Future
Potential, Transportation Research Board, 2005
S. A. Shaheen, et al., North American Carsharing: 10-Year Retrospective, Journal of the Transportation
Research Board, No. 2110, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C.,
2009, pp. 3544.
S. A. Shaheen, et al., Carsharing Parking Policy: A Review Of North American Practices And San
Francisco Bay Area Case Study, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2010
S. Steinberg and B. Vlasic. (2013). Car-Sharing Services Grow, and Expand Options [Online] Available:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/business/car-sharing-services-grow-and-expand-options.html
Suen, S. Ling and Sen, Lalita , Mobility Options for Seniors, Transportation in an Aging Society: A
Decade of Experience, November 1999
Ulrich, Karl T. and Eppinger, Steven D., Product Design and Development, 3
rd
Edition, 2003
United States Census Bureau, Energy Boom Fuels Rapid Population Growth in Parts of Great Plains; Gulf
Coast Also Has High Growth Areas, Says Census Bureau, March 27 2014
Urban, Glen L., and John R. Hauser, Design and Marketing of New Products, 1993
Wards Auto. (2014, January 26). U.S. Vehicle Sales Market Share by Company, 1961-2013 [Online:
Accessed on 02/15/2014] Available: http://wardsauto.com/keydata/historical/UsaSa28summary
Miscellaneous information provided by personal interviews with Car Sharing and Ride Sharing users and
Mercedes-Benz R&D North America











20
APPENDIX A








Exhibit 1. Density of the Villages

















21
APPENDIX B


S. No.
TEEN FOCUS GROUPS
Customer Statements Needs Identification

1. Every Friday Night go out to eat food Locations where restaurants are located
2. Parents or elder siblings drive to
school
They are comfortable waiting
3. Curfew time varies between 10.30pm
and 11pm
Service that pick-Ups/Drop-Offs them to occasions
that end after 11
4. schools start at the same time(with
exceptions of zero period)
Can be operated as a school bus
5. "If I have a license, I would not use the
circulator"
Kids with license enjoy drive, will have to make
service very relevant for them to use
6. Might or Might not wait for the
circulator
Need for flexibility of timings
7. dont mind other people travelling
with them
Open-Minded people. Shuttle doesnt need to be
exclusively for kids
8. "Buses should be good. Just for people
from ladera."
Not comfortable with people they dont know
9. "Will take the bus, while travelling
within the community"
Community lacks good connectivity
10. All-day pass might be useful Might use service more than once a day, possibly a
round-trip
11. A 3 day pass for ride sharing Might go on longer road trips

Exhibit 2. Teen Focus Group Statement Table




Destinations Identified- Teen Focus Group

Recreational1; High-School1; High-School2; Middle-School1; Swim Pool1; Beach1; Beach2;
Shops1; Mall1 and Mall2
Exhibit 3. Identified Destinations for the Teen Focus Group



22
S. No.
ADULT FOCUS GROUP
Customer Statements Needs Identification
1. "Its a pretty liquid town. Drunken driving
incidents happen as cops not present all the
time"
Safety should be a priority
2. Have to take kids to school in Irvine Need for a School bus
3. Baseball games are very popular Ladera people big on games. Need of better
transportation on game days.
4. Kids want play till late Need for a safe service after curfew time
5. Has different dropping off times for both the
kids
Need for a School bus
6. Parents already carpool to drop kids to schools
in Irvine
People already used to coordinating with each
other. Implementation for any service would
not be difficult
7. Ladera middle school region has congested
traffic when it begins or gets over
A school bus for the middle school
8. Parents say "Other adults might not be
comfortable in the bus with the kids"
The school buses should be dedicated during
that time
9. Parents leave their 9 year olds, while they
practice
Parents c=might be comfortable with sending
kids on a school bus
10. When Freeways are packed, People
sometimes take back-roads
Managing service during high traffic hours is
important
11. Happy hours (4pm-8pm) on Thursday, Friday,
Saturday
Need to operate during these hours
12. A Cab/Shuttle for Train station, airport, Metro-
link, Am-track
Need to cover these destinations
13. No bus service that goes around the
neighborhood
Need for connecting destinations within the
community
14. People will take their car to special occasions.
No matter what
Public transportation not reliable. Need for a
better service.
15. Kids go to college in saddle back A shuttle to the College in morning and during
evenings
16. Dropping kids to swim sessions, after school
practices etc.
Kids pursue different activities, Need to serve
this demand
17. Ride to school should be free or on a monthly
basis
Convenience should be a priority
18. "Market it as a community service, people
who buy houses get free limited pass to use to
it"
Leverage the strong sense of community
which is already there.
19. "Will share ride only during trips longer than
35 miles"
Possible market for Car Share
20. "We talked about getting golf cars" Need for short distance commutes
21. "Increased need for such a service during
summers"
Summer might be the ideal time for launch


Exhibit 4. Adult Focus Group Statement Table

23


Destinations Identified- Adult Focus Group

Residential1; Middle-School 2; Train Station; Airport; Metro Link; Amtrack; College1;Swim-
Pool1; Mall1; Beach1; Beach2; Shops2; Pre-School1; Mall2; High-School3; Trader-Joes; CostCo;
Pavilions1; Hospital; Shops3; Parks2 and Clubhouse1
Exhibit 5. Identified Destinations for the Adult Focus Group


S. No.
SENIORS FOCUS GROUP
Customer Statements Needs Identification


1 Many baby boomers who cannot drive Need for a service focused on them
2 Therapy, Doctors appointment, Church and
Mall
Have a limited lifestyle, Need for a service that
caters to almost everything
3 Dont prefer walking a lot Need of dropping as close to home as possible
4 Multiple shuttle stops Need for a service similar to Public
transportation
5 Different destination for different days of
the week (beaches and other recreational
areas)
Need of a semi-fixed schedule
6 Generally my husband drives. Dont leave
much when he's not around
Need for a reliable service
7 Dial a Ride' offered special prices, but only
once a week
Need for the service to be affordable
8 Without a car, one cannot even do
volunteer work
People can volunteer using Mercedes' car
9 Go for grocery shopping a lot; Need for a service to accommodate a lot of
luggage
People have their own carts for carrying
things around
10 Dont mind riding with different age groups Dedicated service not needed
11 Avoid freeways as much as possible Don't want to travel for longer periods.
12 Pets shouldnt be allowed Service should be well maintained and
comfortable
13 Go to Movie theater on Wednesday,
because of additional discounts
Creating special offers once in a while might
increase demand



Exhibit 6. Senior Focus Group Statement Table




24
Destinations Identified- Adult Focus Group

Mall; Church; Hospital; Medical Center; Beach3; Beach4; Trader-Joes; Pavilions1; Target;
CostCo; Recreational1; Plaza; Water-Park; Movie Theater and Park 2
Exhibit 7. Identified Destinations for the Senior Focus Group


TEENS
PRIMARY NEEDS
SECONDARY
NEEDS
TERTIARY NEEDS
IMPORTANCE
RATING
Need for a school
shuttle service
Need to reach
school/college
Need to be on time
***
Need for flexible pick up times
*
Need for flexibility in drop of locations
**
Need to be
dropped home
Need to be efficient (Come back
home and go for after-school
activities)
***
Need to drive a
car to school
(>16 yrs)
Need for convenience/flexibility
**
Need to look cool
***
Need to not be dependent on others
**
Need for after school
activity transportation
shuttle
Need to be on
time
Need to be independent
**
Need for an all-day pass
Need for a round-
trip service
Need for convenience
***
Need for a safe public
transportation system
Need to travel
within or outside
the community
Need to be independent
**
Need to be in
presence of
people they know
Need to feel safe while travelling
***
Need to travel in cool
cars
Need to impress
peers
Need for attention
***
Need to follow social norms
**
Need of a special after
curfew hour service
Need to be not
concerned of
travelling back
home
Need to enjoy irrespective of other
things like time
**
Need for a service
outside the community
Need for regular
recreational
activities
Need to have fun and break
monotonity of regular schedule
**
Need for a dynamic
service
Need to be
picked up and
dropped off at
their destination
Need for convenience
***
Exhibit 8. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the Teens

25





ADULTS
PRIMARY NEEDS SECONDARY NEEDS TERTIARY NEEDS IMPORTANCE
RATING
Need for School
Transportation service
Need to drop kids to
Irvine for school
Need for better
education for children
***
Need for convenience
for kids
**
Need to manage time
well
***
Need for kids to not carry
money for every bus ride
Need for Convenience
**
Need for the service to
be exclusively for kids
Need for kids' safety
**
Need to avoid school
traffic congestion near
middle school
Need to save time
***
Need for a College
service
Need for kids to go to
College
Need for convenience
**
Need for after school
activity transportation
shuttle
Need to be on time Need to have flexible
options
**
Need to go to train
stations and airports
Need to travel at off-
hours
Need to have
convenience of travelling
***
Need to save on
exhorbitant taxi costs
**
Need for a neighborhood
bus service
Need to travel between
different locations inside
community
Need for availability of
flexible travel options
***
Need for a short
distance commute
**
Need for a car sharing
service
Need to travel by car Need to feel
special/important
**
Need of a special after
curfew hour service
Need for their kids to be
safe
Need to be not worried
about kids safety
*
Need for a special shuttle
for special events
Need to go to popular
sporting events
Need for recreational
enjoyment
*
Need for a service for
drunk people(after happy
hours)
Need to not drink and
drive
Need to reach home
safely
**
Need to be safe on
streets
Need to walk on streets
without worries
**
Exhibit 9. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the Adults




26




SENIORS
PRIMARY NEEDS SECONDARY
NEEDS
TERTIARY NEEDS IMPORTANCE
RATING
Need for a
transportation service
Need to travel Need to feel youthful **
Need to maintain their earlier
standard of living
***
Need for the service to be
affordable
***
Need for Telephonic
bookings
Need for simplicity **
Need to be able to do transactions
themselves
***
Need of a
transportation service
Need to go to doctor,
therapy, mall, church
Need to be independent **
Need for a dynamic
service
Need to not walk a lot
for the last mile
Need for a comfortable and
convenient experience
**
Need for the service to
go outside the
community
Need for recreation
activities
Need to feel fresh and active **
Need for a reliable
service
Need to be able to
travel without worries
Need to feel independent ***
Need for car rental
service
Need to do volunteer
work
Need to serve the community *
Need for a service with
a lot of boot space
Need to carry the
shopping items with
them
Need to carry out daily chores *
Need for an efficient
service
Need to reach from
one point to another
quickly
Need to travel as less as possible **
Need for a well
maintained and
comfortable service
Need to travel without
worrying
Need to travel without getting sick **
Exhibit 10. Need Hierarchy and Prioritization Rating for the Seniors







27
APPENDIX C






WEEKDAYS
7-9 am 9am-12pm 12-3pm 3-6pm 6-9pm
Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos.
Middle School2 32 Clubhouses 62 Clubhouses 47 Clubhouses 62 Clubhouses 32
Metro Link 31 Shop3 East 73 Shop3 East 59 Shop3 East 68 Shop3 East 46
Transportation
centre 21 Shops3 West 70 Shops3 West 58 Shops3 West 70 Shops3 West 44


Plaza1 83 Plaza1 45 Plaza1 53 Plaza1 34
Sports Park 36 Sports Park 28 Sports Park 44 Sports Park 25
Founders
Park 39
Founders
Park 37
Founders
Park 42
Founders
Park 26
Plunge Park 43 Plunge Park 42 Plunge Park 40 MV Shops 57
Water Park 48 Water Park 62 Water Park 42 Recreation1 69
Library 68 Library 47 Skate Park 28 College 23
Shops1 78 Shops1 76 Library 44 Metro Link 31
Recreation1 46 Recreation1 54 Shops1 84

College1 24 College1 22 Recreation1 80
Hospital 42 Hospital 31 College1 22
Metro Link 27 Metro Link 23 Hospital 23
Metro Link 27
Exhibit 11. Shuttle Demand on the weekdays









28


7-9 am 9am-12pm 12-3pm 3-6pm

6-9pm
Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos. Destination Nos.
Clubhouses 0 Clubhouses 82 Clubhouses 66 Clubhouses 55 Clubhouses 0
Golf course 25 Shops3 East 82 Shops3 East 86 Shops3 East 67 Shops3 East 41
Metro Link 28 Shops3 West 82
Shops3
West
81
Shops3
West
70 Shops3 West 38

Plaza1 76 Plaza1 62 Plaza1 52
bridge park
plaza
28
cox sports
park
87 Sports Park 55 Sports Park 45 mv shops 60
founders park 81
Founders
Park
58
Founders
Park
47 kaleidoscope 73
Plunge Park 61 Plunge Park 86 Plunge Park 39

water park 76 Water Park 73 Water Park 48
Library 88 Library 62 Library 41
Shops1 99 Shops1 108 Shops1 91
Metro Link 33 Metro Link 25 Metro Link 26
Hospital 37 Hospital 28 Recreation1 84
Golf course 32 Golf course 25
Recreation1 66 Recreation1 81
College1 28
Exhibit 12. Shuttle Demand on the weekend




S. No.
Geographical
Regions
Destinations Included
1. Shops3 Shops3 East, Shops3 west, Pavilions1 and Mall3.
2. Plaza1 Plaza1 and Sports Park.
3. Library Founders Park, Water Park and Middle School2.
4. Shops1 Metro Link, Shop1, Hospital and College1.
5. Outside
Community
Beach1; Beach2; Mall; Beach3; Beach4; Shops2; Plaza2; Medical
Centre; Airport
Exhibit 13. Popular destinations around the community


29
APPENDIX D



Exhibit 14. Destination Preferences 1





Exhibit 15. Destination Preferences 2

8%
16%
16%
25%
26%
9%
Demand of 9am-12pm on Weekends
Clubhouses
Shop3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others
7%
19%
13%
22%
27%
12%
Demand of 12pm-3pm on Weekends
Clubhouses
Shops3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others

30




Exhibit 16. Destination Preferences 3





Exhibit 17. Destination Preferences 4

8%
21%
15%
20%
30%
6%
Demand of 3pm-6pm on Weekends
Clubhouses
Shops3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others
33%
12%
55%
Demand of 6pm-9pm on Weekends
Clubhouses
Shops3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others

31



Exhibit 18. Destination Preferences 5





Exhibit 19. Destination Preferences 6


8%
16%
16%
23%
26%
11%
Demand from 9am - 12pm on Weekdays
Clubhouses
Shop3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others
7%
18%
12%
20%
33%
10%
Demand from 12pm-3pm on Weekdays
Clubhouses
Shop3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others

32



Exhibit 20. Destination Preferences 7






Exhibit 21. Destination Preferences 8

9%
19%
13%
16%
32%
11%
Demand from 3pm-6pm on Weekdays
Clubhouses
Shop3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region
Others
8%
23%
15%
7%
47%
Demand from 6pm-9pm on Weekdays
Clubhouses
Shop3 Region
Plaza1 Region
Library Region
Shops1 Region

33
Car Sharing Locations
Pavilions1; Founder's Park; Clubhouse2; Beach1; Mall; Beach2; Shops2; Beach3; Beach4;
Plaza2; Medical Centre; Airport
Exhibit 22. Car Sharing Spots