Depending on what the bus services are like that may not make a lot of difference. Round my way we have so many buses, some of which run at 10-15 minute intervals, that even if you leave 5 minutes later you might miss one bus only to play leapfrog with a different bus. Or a bus on a different route on the overlapping parts.

I don't see why buses are such a problem. If they pull in and there are a load of people waiting to board, it will be a while before the bus moves. If it pulls in and nobody is waiting then it won't be as long. If you're approaching it and it indicates it's about to pull out, decide whether to gun it and get past or brake and tuck in behind (and the best solution depends on where you are relative to the bus, how fast you can gun it, how good your brakes are etc).

In my town it's quite common for me to be gaining fast on a bus that's stopped only to slow to let it out and then catch and overtake it at the next stop. Usually once I'm past the bus it doesn't catch up, on the basis that it goes faster than I do but I don't have to stop to let people on and off every few hundred yards.