> Conversely buses pull over to the side of the road, usually into a lane that is used for parking...

This can actually be pretty bad for travel time as well, because then the bus has to wait for a break in traffic to get back on the road. Now in the US many places build bus stops out to the road lanes so that they don't have to waste time pulling in and out of traffic.

This seems less a problem of trams running in the middle of the road and more of a problem of localities that don't build suitable waiting areas next to the tram tracks. Example: https://nacto.org/wp-content/themes/sink_nacto/views/design-...