(note: this is in the US, idk if it’s normal in other countries) I understand that some cities don’t have a station, in which case it makes sense, but I’m visiting family in a small city (college town) that just updated the train/bus station a few years ago, but the only bus from my major city drops me off on a random side street northwest 3 miles away from the station with no bus service/businesses around.
Why do they do this? The town has a bus station! It’s a major stop on the route! It’s super inconvenient and doesn’t make sense to me.
Because some intercity buses (Megabus) don’t want to pay for their own stations or even pay to use and existing intermodal facility.
I mean you answered your own question, it’s in the US.
The us is pathologically bad with public transport and almost everywhere treats it like a treat given to a dog you barely care about enough to feed.
People need to hold municipalities accountable for things like this to not happen.