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Customer Experience Strategy & Design icon
Customer Experience Strategy & Design
Transport for London image
Transport for London

Customer experience innovation to improve TfL bus experience and increase ridership

Services: Customer Insight, Customer Experience Strategy & Design

Mima partnered with Momentum Transport Consultancy to enhance the Transport for London (TfL) bus experience through human-centred design, aiming to increase ridership by focusing on innovative on-board features. 

Buses remain London’s most frequently used form of public transport, facilitating 1.8 billion journeys annually. However, since 2013, bus usage has experienced a gradual decline, with a slight recovery observed in the past year as passenger numbers rebound post-pandemic. To meet the Mayor’s Transport Strategy target of achieving 80% of trips in London via public or active transport by 2041, TfL is prioritising improvements that make bus journeys more accessible, appealing, and user-friendly. 

Our multidisciplinary approach combined transport expertise with design research, behavioural science and inclusive design to address evolving passenger needs.

The Challenge

Through comprehensive primary research involving over 60 participants across diverse demographics, including disabled passengers, older adults, parents, regular bus users and non-bus users, we identified critical pain points across five key areas: passenger accessibility, safety and comfort, bus perception, driver impact, and lack of passenger control.

The project delivered a structured framework for feature prioritisation, categorising solutions into short-term 'Quick Wins' and long-term technological improvements, transforming passenger insights into actionable recommendations for sustainable transport innovation.

Mima brought customer experience expertise to complement Momentum's transport consultancy experience, creating a comprehensive approach to bus experience enhancement. Our role focused on embedding behavioural science and inclusive design principles throughout the discovery and exploration phases.

Our methodology combined extensive primary research with global marketplace analysis. Together we facilitated collaborative workshops with TfL staff, conducted ethnographic intercept interviews with 46 passengers across London's bus network, and ran targeted focus groups with access requirement groups recruited through TfL's engagement networks. Additionally, we interviewed non-bus users and conducted depot visits with operational staff to capture diverse perspectives.

Using Dovetail for systematic qualitative analysis, we identified patterns across all engagements, ensuring rigorous examination of customer experiences. This structured approach enabled us to map the complete customer journey on buses, highlighting critical pain points and opportunities for intervention across five key areas affecting passenger experience.

An illustrated map of London bus routes produced as part of Mima's report for TfL. This
An illustrated map of London bus routes produced as part of Mima's report for TfL. The map of London focuses on various bus routes and key locations.
A split image showing a busy London road on the left where Adam a member of the team at Mima talks to a bus passenger at a bus stop on the pavement. On the right a screenshot of an app showing bus arrival times.
The Mima team conducting interviews with bus passengers in London on various routes.
Adam, a member of the team at Mima holds a clipboard whilst interviewing a passenger at a London bus stop in a built up area.
Adam, a member of the team at Mima interviews a passenger at a London bus stop

The Solution

Together, we developed a comprehensive framework categorising bus improvements into six strategic themes: buses as places for calm journeys, city exploration, digital connectivity, accessibility, ease of use, and sustainable travel. Our solution prioritised features using a structured scoring matrix considering cost, passenger impact, technological readiness, and implementation timeline.

For TfL, our research provided evidence-based insights into passenger behaviour and clear prioritisation criteria for feature development. The framework addresses fundamental challenges like accessibility barriers, thermal comfort issues, and passenger anxiety about journey navigation, while establishing a foundation for consistent service enhancement across London's extensive bus network.


The Impact 

Mima's critical contribution was translating complex passenger insights into actionable business recommendations, bridging the gap between user needs and operational constraints. Our inclusive design approach ensured accessibility remained central to all feature development, particularly vital given buses' role as the most accessible public transport option.

The structured evaluation framework provides TfL with clear criteria for future feature investments, while our comprehensive pain point analysis offers a blueprint for addressing barriers to bus adoption. Most significantly, our research demonstrated that thoughtful on-board improvements can transform buses from merely functional transport into appealing, comfortable spaces that attract new users while better serving TfL’s existing passengers.



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