It is not just prioritising car commuters from outside vs locals, it is simply an extremely wasteful use of limited traffic capacity. The bus, not clogged down in traffic, has a way higher capacity than probably even two full car lanes at the highest performance. A bus lane is the only rational thing there. If that makes the highway off ramp redundant because there is no capacity for cars left to justify it, simply tear it down. It is fake capacity anyway if the traffic cannot be supported further down the road and it would even benefit car drivers, as it would remove a clogging point and free up capacity on the highway.
It is not just prioritising car commuters from outside vs locals, it is simply an extremely wasteful use of limited traffic capacity. The bus, not clogged down in traffic, has a way higher capacity than probably even two full car lanes at the highest performance. A bus lane is the only rational thing there. If that makes the highway off ramp redundant because there is no capacity for cars left to justify it, simply tear it down. It is fake capacity anyway if the traffic cannot be supported further down the road and it would even benefit car drivers, as it would remove a clogging point and free up capacity on the highway.