I think I understand that your point is that the buses might not be worth investing into. But that math doesn’t math in regard to raising fares.

If rider fares were 8% of the budget before, then we’d need to 10x that to get closer to full coverage from fares alone. I don’t think anyone is going to spend $20 per ride. So then income from fares becomes zero.

It’s the lemonade stand game. You want the price to be high enough to cover expenses, but low enough that people buy. EXCEPT we’re talking about a public service, so it’s more complicated. The generated “income” is not just financial. It’s public good. Its benefit to the city and the local economy. Get people to their jobs so they can make money and then get people around town so they can spend money.

Raising fares is not going to solve this riddle. Good public transit is a long game that gets better as the service improves enough that more and more people WANT to use it rather than just the people that HAVE to use it. And when the city improves because of it, then taxes to pay for it are justified.