@humantransit interesting perspective. thinking about this from an Australian context, my first inclination is to disagree - our state based planning feels a lot more successful at integration than what US cities typically achieve. there are definitely big limitations in terms of responsiveness to change/local concerns, but it feels like an agency like transport for nsw that meets the needs of 8m odd people across 1000s of square km/miles makes public transport more legible and accessible than what you'd find in your avg US state/even the bay area.
you make great points, but my experience riding transit in these places makes it hard not to favour a more centralised agency than is typical in the US.
@jedsetter I worked in the Aussie system for five years in the 00s. I found NSW at the time to be hopelessly bureaucratic and paralyzed, and yet it held all the power to make anything happen. Bus operator boundaries also created the same balkanization that US small agencies do, but with less democracy and accountability. I don't always defend extreme decentralization, but it's always a tradeoff. I think Aus is moving a good direction.
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