I can suggest putting bus-only lanes around the city. This way you still prevent car usage, but get all the benefits of fast bus transport. :)

Yup, I'm planning on doing that. My gripe with bus lanes currently is that a) they don't zone and b) dumpsters and hearses don't use them (eg. I can't put a metro station next to a bus road - I have to have some other type of road in addition, just so I can place and service the metro station).

I image you can put them between zoned houses (4 grids house - 2 grids buslane - 4 grids house) and just do occasional road crossing for bus stops. This way you maximize zoning space.

Yes, but you also end up with several intersections in close succession which seems to make traffic stall for some reason. I'm not sure if this is bus lane specific or just a normal feature of game - if there's not a decent stretch of road after an intersection before the next intersection, traffic seems to dither as if it's worried it might end up in a traffic jam that lands it parked on an intersection. :/

I still think it would be useful for bus roads to zone and handle hearses / dumpsters as that's a common desire for things like bus stations and compact interchanges (particularly so once we get tunnels in next CS update). Having to build an extra road just to get zone, dumpster and hearses is a PITA in such scenarios.