Tank Tinker, the obvious reason the US does not have corridors across Class C airspace is that their Class C airspace only goes to 5,000’ AGL – i.e. VFR can overfly at VFR levels from 5,500’ to 17,500’.
Even if it was Class B airspace in Australia and we did not have lanes, my experience in the USA is very different to Australia. For example, I have requested clearance VFR a number of times enroute across Class B airspace in the USA and I have never been refused or delayed.
Over the last 20 years I have occasionally heard VFR pilots ask for an enroute clearance over Sydney. I have never yet heard one given the clearance – they are all told to remain OCTA. Last time I requested a clearance from Terrey Hills to Wollongong at “any VFR level”, I was very courteously told that runway 34 was in use so clearance would not be available. Of course I flew down the Victor 1 lane using about 20% more fuel than I would have if I’d been able to go at a higher level. I’m fortunate – I can afford this – but if you added this up over the last 10 years the extra cost to general aviation would be many millions of dollars. As I’ve stated before, sometimes the difference between success and failure in a business is a very small amount of money.