I live in Scandinavia where public bus systems are plentiful, heavily subsized (with my taxes...) and reasonably on schedule.

The things that make me avoid them and instead use my car:

- You get sick by using them. The passenger density is way too high and invariably you'll end end up having a seat neighbor with some cold or flu virus.

- There is no privacy at all during rush time - it's super packed and just a horribly stressed environment. I don't want to sit squashed up to some random stranger.

The solution to all of this is obvious: Instead of 2+2 seat arrangements, look at business class seat configurations. Or just make the buses longer, and go with 1+1 seat configs.