Matt's right that relatively inexpensive marginal improvements to a bus system which encourage greater ridership are worth focusing on. Too much of the transit focus in this country has been on mass transit as substitute for automobile commute rather than as a general way of getting around. Commuters are regular users who understand the route that they use. But a system which car free people use to get around generally would be greatly enhanced by better information.
Our local transit authority does very strange things. In the busiest part of the downtown area, bus shelters do actually have some maps and route/frequency information. But the maps are screwy. If you're facing North, the maps have North on top as maps normally do. If you're facing South, the maps have South on top. I'm sure some genius thought this was very clever, but for normal people it's very disorienting.
