Hi everyone!
[have] you considered some other-than-batching maintenance model
He most definitely has, and the current strategy is a deliberate choice. Regarding delegation, then he touches upon the topic in his most recent talk The Hard Parts of Open Source. I recommend watching it if you’d like to understand his position better!
P.S. I think a fork would be great! Given that it is not the first time it has been suggested, it seems at least a few more people would be interested in exploring a more distributed governance style 
As already mentioned, just remember to change the name and logo!