London is doing a decent job of covering your points:
> You can't make it stop at every block in order to make it take less walking to get to the bus stop.
How big's a block? London often has bus stops a few hundred metres apart even out in the sticks.
> Similarly, you can't have parallel lines a block apart.
London often has multiple routes serving the same area in addition to parallel routes nearby.
> You have to limit the service area so that you can afford to run busses every 5-10 minutes.
My most frequent bus (53) goes from Central London to Plumstead Station (~11 miles) on a 6-12 minute schedule during the day. That's not uncommon for London.
> And you'll want to improve streets so that busses can run down the center and pick up passengers from protected islands
Slowly happening over London - couple of stops near me have had their inset bus stop bays pushed out into the road to block traffic when the bus is stopped.
> You can't make it stop at every block in order to make it take less walking to get to the bus stop.
How big's a block? London often has bus stops a few hundred metres apart even out in the sticks.
> Similarly, you can't have parallel lines a block apart.
London often has multiple routes serving the same area in addition to parallel routes nearby.
> You have to limit the service area so that you can afford to run busses every 5-10 minutes.
My most frequent bus (53) goes from Central London to Plumstead Station (~11 miles) on a 6-12 minute schedule during the day. That's not uncommon for London.
> And you'll want to improve streets so that busses can run down the center and pick up passengers from protected islands
Slowly happening over London - couple of stops near me have had their inset bus stop bays pushed out into the road to block traffic when the bus is stopped.