Perhaps I'll give the QFC a miss when I travel up in August. Mind you, we should pass through at around 3am, so you wouldn't think it would be that busy.
I'm a big believer in heavily subsidised public transport systems, they need to be comprehensive and cheap. I grew up in South Yorkshire in the 70s and 80s, when public transport went everywhere, cost pennies and was always busy. When deregulation came in 1986, Sheffield and Rotherham seemed to be gradually choked with car traffic over the following few years, I guess as long held habits were changed.
Where I live now no longer has any bus service, it was scrapped during the 'austerity' period cuts. When I see buses in town, they seem to be mostly populated by bus pass wielding pensioners, I find it quite sad that the only other people to use buses are perhaps those who have no other option.
If I walk a couple of miles to the next village, I can catch a bus and pay £6 for the return trip into town. You have to be careful with the timing in town though, there's only a few buses a day. For about £2 worth of petrol on the Jazz, I can make the return journey from the doorstep, with up to 3/4 passengers. The whole thing's screwy. I thought they wanted to cut pollution?