What I detailed, I do in real life because I don't like waiting, because waiting in the station is far less comfortable than being in the vehicle and because ti

What I detailed, I do in real life because I don't like waiting, because waiting in the station is far less comfortable than being in the vehicle and because timetables are reliable enough that I do not worry about missing a connection. Besides, in the simple linear example I have given , it is impossible to miss the direct connection. It either catches up to me in which case I just take the direct connection when it does (and as a result I split my waiting time into shorter periods) or I arrive to the destination before the direct connection does (therefore saving time). > If I get a seat on the first bus I take, do I want to give it up and potentially be forced to stand on the second one This is never a scenario. I never get off a bus that takes me to my destination. I get off a bus when it no longer goes in the desired direction. I get ON the first bus that goes in the desired direction even if it doesn't reach the destination. If the first bus to arrive is the direct connection, I take it of course, and no longer bother with a combo. Compared to when tickets were per ride so combos were disincentivized, I vastly prefer the current system and I do these combos almost on a daily basis. An unreliable transportation system results in aversion to transfers. That is not the case in the cities relevant for me. Transportation is reliable enough that transfers are an opportunity for optimization instead of being something to avoid. Sometimes I even ended up missing the initial bus at the starting point that would normally be the last direct connection with my destination before a critical time point, but I manage to still make it in time by doing a combo instead.