Randal O’Toole (the author behind it.org) is often a crank, but in this case, I think he’s got it mostly right.

> federal funding of most of the cost of buses has divorced agencies from the need to be cautious in their spending

To be even more accurate:

> federal funding of most of the cost of <x> has divorced agencies from the need to be cautious in their spending

… and of course we should apply this infrastructure used mostly by private vehicles as well. One of the reasons transit has trouble standing on its own in North America is that we shovel public money land, and resources toward its competition.