3 buses plying in quick succession. No, this is not a scene from a responsible “developed” country. This is from suburban Uttar Pradesh, the largest and the most populous region in India: a “developing” country. Public transport is the only option for a large number of people, so it is run and at very low ticket prices.
Some cities also have low floor AC buses for intra city or short distance inter city transportation. Those are usually baked with few charging ports as well (and look better).
UP also has 3 working metro services (disregarding Noida Metro because for all intent and purpose, it is integrated with Delhi’s variant) : Lucknow (state capital), Kanpur and Agra ( home to Taj Mahal) but ridership is very low in two of the three due to low (as of now) operational lines.
That being said, public transport is otherwise quite bad in North India. Especially in Agra, a tourist hub, hanging from autos with your limbs out is a common occurrence(even by Indian standards). I can’t wait for metro to map its wings furthur out there.
Yes, some places are much better than others. Tamilnadu in South India probably has the best public and private bus system as well as the best road quality. Others even in South India are only somewhat good.