I think Michael does not sufficiently appreciate the nature of the deep suburbs in much of the US. I grew up on a cul-de-sac in suburban St. Louis that was over 1/4 mile just to the street that feeds into the cul-de-sac; a street that seems hard to envision having bus service of any reasonable frequency along the way. It was 2/3 of a mile to the nearest minor arterial (one lane each way). That road is at least long, straight, and serves a mix of destinations (community centers, residential, subdivision access, and commercial some 5-10 miles down the road). 1.5 miles to two different major arterials that could reasonably support frequent bus service (to the constant stream of stripmalls on the other side of giant parking lots). This isn't a rural farm, but a moderate-density 70s era suburb (50,000 population with imperceptible boarders to other such suburbs on all sides) with quarter-acre lots and 1200+-student high schools every few miles, and I fail to understand how one could provide frequent service in any reasonable walking distance.