Supporting Public Transportation to Accomodate Car Usage

You've seen the drop in bus prices in Beijing in the last two years. Enlightened move by the government, no? Increasing the usage of public transportation, right? Right, except for the fact that most of the new bus riders are actually people who previously rode their bicycles.
Some history: The major streets in downtown Beijing are composed of 3-4 lanes of traffic in each direction separated by a divider. Flanking each direction of travel is a separated bicycle lane about 1.5 car-widths wide. It's a dreamy, cosy setup for bicycles, roller-blades, etc. Well, too cosy in fact. There were mornings when you couldn't make it through the intersection before the light turned red again. You were stuck in bike traffic the same as the car traffic next to you.
It turns out that most of the people riding bicycles were actually cost-conscious commuters instead of civic-minded bicyclists/fitness freaks. When the final price cut to .8 yuan occurred, the bicycle crowd evaporated. Why bother biking when the bus is the equivalent of 20 cents? They all piled onto the bus. The bicycle lanes were uncongested, beautiful and ... short-lived.
The Beijing government took each bicycle lane and, with the addition of some paint lines (or a thin metal divider), created a single lane of traffic and a half-width bicycle lane. Think about it. For the cost of only (tens of) millions of yuan, the Beijing Municipal government has quietly added 1 lane of traffic in every direction at every downtown intersection. *genius*