Small-city Transit Insanity

Below is a map of part of bus system in my hometown. I know this city pretty well, but this map gives me a freakin' headache. Imagine someone who's gets off the train here for the first time who tries to figure this out.

Never mind that "Greater Wilmington" is still really just the city center, or that the bizarre "Circle" routes aren't explained anywhere. It's more than just a bad map making and too many colors.

It's too many numbers, too many routes. It seems like the system is made exclusively for people who know exactly where they're going, in which case they don't really need a map. I imagine everyone else is left frustrated and angry, (perhaps why they start Fight Clubs.)

I know that people in the know (downtown commuters) are the main customers of these systems, but they're missing an opportunity for occasional riders with this complexity. A few pointers:

1. People can walk 3 blocks and survive it -- don't try to get everyone door to door
2. People can transfer if you make it easy -- not every route has to go downtown
3. In addition to simpler routes, better color coordination and smarter numbering could help

Part of why people like trains much better than buses is that they're easy to follow. That the tracks are fixed turns out to be an advantage in this way. Just because buses can run on virtually any street doesn't mean they should. 50+ bus routes for a city of 75k people is absurd. Even the Tokyo subway map--in Korean--is easier to comprehend.