Here's a possibly dumb proposal: don't support wheelchairs on buses, instead give them a city/state-run uber-for-wheelchairs service. The problem is that supporting wheelchairs adds an inordinate burden to buses and makes sticking to a schedule completely impossible even if there is no traffic. If you want to take the bus 3 miles, a wheelchair user getting on could double your ride time. So would giving the wheelchair users their own service actually even cost much on the net? Presumably the bus service could save money by not handling wheelchairs on the bus while still sticking to a given level of service and reliability.
I'm not sure it's economically feasible but if service to wheelchair users improves too then it might be something you could sell as a good thing above and beyond the improvements to the bus service.
instead give them a city/state-run uber-for-wheelchairs service
The San Jose area has that: "Paratransit". It was supposed to serve mobility-impaired people who have difficulty using buses (although all buses have lifts).
As it turned out, they just let anybody ride who has the gall to call them. 90% of their trips amount to a taxpayer-subsidized cab service for the self-important.
The award of the contract was suspect, too, and the subcontractor had to be dumped at great expense... just like the county's ambulance contract with Rural/Metro.
That's unfortunate. However this sounds a lot more like corruption and a shady business issue "fulfilling" a contract, or a /very/ poorly written contract.
I'm not sure it's economically feasible but if service to wheelchair users improves too then it might be something you could sell as a good thing above and beyond the improvements to the bus service.