I think the main criticism arises when both of the following are true:
1: Exact fare, no change given (for cash) AND
2: No contactless.
The exact fare requirement has never bothered me over much of itself. What is off putting is not even knowing that the exact fare is needed, let alone how much it will be, until you board the bus.
+1
I guess bus companies around the world just don't really care about visitors using their services.
Yes, the main problem with most buses in the UK is that it's impossible to know the fare if you have never taken the bus before, or not taken it in the past few years as it will probably not have gone up.
I prefer to have as many options to pay as possible, therefore I am in favour of retaining the possibility for cash payments as well as allowing contactless and/or "app" payments.
Personally, I am wary of allowing multiple companies more or less carte blanche to charge my cards whatever they like, so I would prefer a system where tickets are purchased from a driver using contactless, or an app (but I don't want to have hundreds of bus apps on my phone, given the number of bus companies I use around the world - so I would only install an app for a local bus company).
I prefer to use cash when I don't have a bank account in the local currency.
The most user-friendly bus system I have ever used are various buses in Japan. Of course, Japan is a *very* heavily cash-based country. If you have never been to Japan, then I will just say that I consider the UK to still be a heavily cash-based country.
Firstly, the fares are well-advertised everywhere, at bus stops, on the buses and online.
Both cash and smartcard payments are accepted. It is easy to top up the smartcard everywhere (though not necessarily online but there is no need to).
The buses all have machines to accept your fare if paying by cash so the driver doesn't need to handle any of it. If you don't have a card or the right coins, there are machines on the bus where you can insert notes and get a mixture of coins in change in order to pay the correct amount.
Lastly, the drivers are all extremely polite and (although it gets annoying if you aren't used to it) they basically announce everything down to "I am turning left please hold on" "I am about to brake please be careful"
The least friendly bus system I have used is in Stavanger in Norway. If you are a local it is probably fine. When arriving at the airport, there is no information at all about the local bus service although it is available online (in Norwegian). The local bus from the airport used to go to the city centre but it was too popular with visitors so they decided to curtail it to a nearby suburban centre to force you onto the expensive airport bus (about £18).
You can still take the local bus followed by a train. Interestingly enough the train passes through lots of rural stations where tickets cannot be bought until on board, mainly with cash (because cards won't work until a mobile signal is reached). The bus fare is about £3 but the only way to buy it at the airport is to use the app. At least there is free wifi there, but if boarding elsewhere then I am not going to use roaming on my phone.
In another spite to visitors, there is a (newly introduced at the time I went) surcharge of about £2 if using cash, which should not really be charged because there is no ticket machine at the airport, but of course despite being told on travel forums that "everyone in Norway speaks English", this is not true at all, so arguing with the bus driver doesn't work. Furthermore, the amount of the cash fare is just above a single note, and the driver probably has no change, thus someone unprepared will have to pay about £10 rather than £5 (and might as well just take the expensive airport bus!). Knowing that train ticket machines probably only take coins, I did come prepared with lots of coins though.
Lastly, at the bus station in the large suburban centre, which serves about 30 routes, there are exactly 2 ticket machines which are hidden away (and are card only).
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