I suspect the uncomfortable truth behind a lot of the problems regarding public transit isn't the transit itself, but the passengers. If you had the choice of riding a public bus with a large collection of the public or paying a few bucks and selecting a preferred subset of the ridership (e.g. chariot in SF, uber, lyft, etc.) I think most will choose the non-bus option to feel comfortable during their ride.
I'm not saying that this is a morally acceptable thing, I just suspect this is a significant reason why bus ridership has been declining.
I'm not saying that this is a morally acceptable thing, I just suspect this is a significant reason why bus ridership has been declining.