What would make them more desirable for middle class commuters?
more frequent buses and more frequent stops. I have only ridden the local bus one. The nearest stop is probably a ten-minute walk from my house, which isn't bad, but it would be nice if it were closer. On the other end, it drops me off within a block or two from my office, which is good, but I'd have to change buses downtown at the main station. The bus comes once every hour, so if I miss one I'd have to wait a long time.
suburb-to-suburb is hard. I'd have to go into the city, then back out, like on spokes of a wheel, in a journey lasting a little over an hour, just to get to a point two miles west of me. Ring routes would alleviate some of that problem.
The buses themselves are not bad. They're fairly clean, they stick to the schedule, they are not too smelly or noisy or crowded, and except for the one driven by a Don King lookalike who never smiles, the drivers are very helpful. At least the only driver I ever dealt with was extremely helpful. (Don King has a reputation among all bus riders hereabouts and his sour mood is apparently well known, although I haven't met him yet.)
