Agreed, I was thinking the self driving vans or mini-buses would hold maybe 10 people. They wouldn't have to be as big as a full size bus as they would come by more often, making them more convenient for the riders.

I live in a smaller city and we have full size buses that only come by every half an hour, which means if you miss a connection it could take you an hour and a half to travel a distance you could easily drive in 15-20 minutes. If the buses came by more often, more people would ride them, but that would be cost prohibitive if you had to pay all the drivers.