Not to be argumentative here at all... but if you make the service too cheap and frequent you get people travelling more often than they need to. Yes a person in a bus is better in terms if congestion and pollution than that same person in a SOV. But that person making one trip to Victoria a week, with a friend in a car that's going anyway is better than that person going 4 times a week.
Travelling more often than they need to? What qualifies as need to?
What is wrong with somebody who goes Downtown 4 times a week? More potential business right? Plus, you have somebody takes a bus once a week downtown $5 round trip. Reduce the fare to half, $2.50 round trip, but four times a week you end up making $5 more. Now, for a single person, the cost is actually more expensive for the week. But, consider this: If the cost is so cheap multiple people want to take the bus more often, then the overall cost to transit is reduced, despite the lower fare. If every bus spends most of its time at 80% capacity, outside of rush hour, that is actually a boon, and would spur the need to provide even better service quicker.
I am not saying the city should reduce its fare, it is very affordable. Things I would like to see implemented though:
-reinstate the transfer
-stop announcements that actually announce the stop, not just cross streets
-the ticketing tower by the driver doing the transfers, not a driver tearing off a stack (a la OC Transpo in Ottawa)
-articulated busses to be run up and down bus lanes (all day bus lanes not just 3 hour bus lanes)
-an attempt to implement a BRT system