I lived in a mountain community and the only service worth anything was a semi private arm of the county transit system. It worked because they didn't have a "set" Schedule so if a few people called looking for a ride up the hill or down the hill the small buss would drive to within a block or two of your location and pick you up. Normally on a major cross street. It was a private company contracted to the county bus service.
Many of our school districts are using the same idea, they are contracting out their bus services to private companies and it saves money.

As far as being dirty goes that would be hard to believe knowing what LA buses are like by late afternoon.

But more to the point once they start cutting bus service many of the people that do not drive in LA simply have no way to get around because the city is designed with cars in mind. If indeed Melbourne was designed around expanding rail lines I like the idea even better. I like trains for some reason, I like the dedicated lines they take I guess with no competition with cars for driving space I guess.