Not trying to be devil's advocate, but to solve public transportation you need regulations and organisations that would consolidate and refactor the existing sy

Not trying to be devil's advocate, but to solve public transportation you need regulations and organisations that would consolidate and refactor the existing system(s). Driverless cars can kinda evolve independently, with much less regulations introduced. At this point you can sit back and wait for driverless cars to improve without doing anything extra (public and private companies will continue doing all the work). You cannot sit back and expect public transport to fix itself - investments are needed, political push is required, risks need to be taken. Another big thing is demand for properly functioning public transportation - is it really there for US? No demand usually means no political effort or even attention invested into changing things.