This is exactly what LA is doing btw. LA has a few light rail networks but by far most of its network is buses and most of its riders use its buses. The problems that the LA Metro Bus network echo the problems with fixing housing costs in general:
* Lack of political will to create separate lanes. City council members are drivers and empathize with their auto driving constituents and would rather have driving lanes available to auto drivers than exclusive to buses
* Better bus stops require better funding which requires raising taxes. Nicer bus stops also tend to attract the homeless. The US has been funding auto driver amenities for almost a century via taxes but only started funding transit in a consistent way federally from the BBB act, and even then only at a fraction of auto improvements.
* A bus route that serves many stops is slow. A bus route that serves few stops is inconvenient for anyone not near those stops. You can run multiple buses along a route with differing levels of service to service both modes, but that requires running more buses, which requires purchasing more buses and hiring more drivers which costs more money.
Most of this comes down to a lack of political will and funding. Most politicians still see driving as the main way to move around and are loathe to fund transit as anything more than an equity initiative to help with the sad folks who cannot drive a car. Until this changes, progress is going to be slow. Likewise most politicians benefit from high housing costs because they themselves live in more expensive, exclusive areas with exclusionary zoning and are more sympathetic to that viewpoint and view housing accessibility as largely an equity initiative.
* Lack of political will to create separate lanes. City council members are drivers and empathize with their auto driving constituents and would rather have driving lanes available to auto drivers than exclusive to buses
* Better bus stops require better funding which requires raising taxes. Nicer bus stops also tend to attract the homeless. The US has been funding auto driver amenities for almost a century via taxes but only started funding transit in a consistent way federally from the BBB act, and even then only at a fraction of auto improvements.
* A bus route that serves many stops is slow. A bus route that serves few stops is inconvenient for anyone not near those stops. You can run multiple buses along a route with differing levels of service to service both modes, but that requires running more buses, which requires purchasing more buses and hiring more drivers which costs more money.
Most of this comes down to a lack of political will and funding. Most politicians still see driving as the main way to move around and are loathe to fund transit as anything more than an equity initiative to help with the sad folks who cannot drive a car. Until this changes, progress is going to be slow. Likewise most politicians benefit from high housing costs because they themselves live in more expensive, exclusive areas with exclusionary zoning and are more sympathetic to that viewpoint and view housing accessibility as largely an equity initiative.