This is discussed a bit in urban planning circles, one of the reasons trams or light rail is preferred is political, it's much harder for some austerity government to come into power in a city and remove tramlines than remove bus and bike lanes.
The brutal core of this argument remains those who demand we take urban planning and development seriously to benefit the masses, versus those who seek fortune and riches bootlicking those who would benefit from chaos and disorganization. I hate to be that blunt about it, but I think the HN crowd can swallow that bitter medicine better than most.
If you’re all-in on a car-focused city, then you’re going to be disappointed. If you have gripes with your current mass transit (like Boston’s infamous Green Line), then it’s better to address those gripes directly than throw the baby out with the bathwater in favor of something newer, shinier, and worse.
This bus-hate is irrational and self-defeating. A successful mass transit system has multiple modes of transport. Making one of them cheaper than it is now can only be a good thing.