I need help understanding Metro Buses – I feel like I’m constantly on the fail bus

I started looking into Metro and found that many of the routes go to some of my favorite restaurants – so why not try that instead of Uber? Multiple times I've waited at the stop for the bus (for 10+ minutes) and then given up so I walk. On occasion the bus will pass me (and the LED has the correct route). I consistently arrive 3-5 minutes before the expected arrival time.

I don't care for a bunch of comments about how Metro is a failure, I just want to understand how to best utilize it in current state. It seems near impossible to know when a bus is actually going to be at a stop.

I've tried:

Using the Ride Metro app and zooming into the bus stop. I then look at the actual (estimated) time.
Texting (stop, bus) with the stop and route. (what is the difference between RT and SC?). Seems like this only returns what is from the schedule, not actuality.
Using the Ride metro app's gps feature to track the bus to the stop. I've only had this work once.
Waiting a good while at the bus stop.