[Jasoncw]

The more you learn about American transportation planning the more you learn that they're incompetent.

That's pretty obvious just from the state of most of our transit systems.

But it's not just an issue of funding. Read any alternatives analysis and you'll see how clueless they are about the different modes and types of service that are exist around the world. All they know are buses, BRT, and light rail, except they don't know any of those very well either because most of the time the proposed service quality is so garbage that in practical terms it's pointless.

How many transit agencies could drastically improve their on time performance by updating the bus schedules to reflect the actual typical times? How many transit agencies have bus stops spaced every other block? And these same people are supposed to pull off multi billion dollar infrastructure projects?


I do think though that cities should seriously consider paying for their projects by themselves, to avoid the bureaucracy and regulations and complexity and expense. A good investment is a good investment, and most cities have the financial ability to pay for transit projects themselves (even if they're unwilling to).