Like many metropolitan regions in the United States, the San Francisco Bay Area is politically fragmented into many local jurisdictions. There is one regional transportation planning agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, but there are 9 counties, 85 cities, and 16 towns, each separately responsible for making bicycle infrastructure improvements. A few of these jurisdictions publish and implement their own bicycle plans, while most defer this responsibility to the county or the region in which they are situated. Written bicycle plans are required to qualify for many sources of funding from regional, state, and federal agencies.