The War on Cars

We talk with a guest who knows firsthand just how destructive cars can be. Dr. Rex Tai is a physician who works in long-term care. Many of his patients are the victims of traffic violence. His experience providing care for these people has been part of his growing awareness of how our country's car-dependence creates and exacerbates inequality and division in our society and even in our global politics. We talk about all that, the effects of catastrophic injury for individuals and families, and how the public health crisis of traffic violence is just one aspect of a system that limits our mobility in so many ways, as well as dividing us from each other. If you'd like to check out some of the organizations Dr. Tai mentions in the episode, here they are: Los Deliveristas Unidos WE ACT for Environmental Justice NYC-DSA Ecosocialists Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Get the book and find us on tour at LifeAfterCars.com.  Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link to sell your bike. You can also save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. TheWarOnCars.org

4/7/26 • 56:56

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. For a long time, safe streets and transit advocacy organizations have had to play a careful game. While non-profit organizations can advocate for policies and infrastructure changes that protect pedestrians and cyclists and make transit more efficient and accessible, they can't endorse candidates for office or otherwise throw their weight around when another election rolls around. Thankfully, that's changing. There are now a growing number of safe-streets and transit-focused political action committees and lobbying groups that have sprung up to explicitly influence and endorse candidates that they see as friendly to the cause. How did they get started? How have they wielded their influence to elect good people who will enact good policies? Does it take a lot of money to make a difference? If ordinary people want to start their own PAC or lobbying group, where do they begin? We talk to the founders of StreetsPAC in New York, Streets PAC NJ, and the Better Streets Chicago Action Fund to find out how to win elections and influence politicians. Become a Patreon subscriber for full access. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! TheWarOnCars.org

3/31/26 • 08:46

The Pushcart War—written by Jean Merrill and illustrated by Ronni Solbert and first published in 1964—is a charming and provocative children's novel that tells the story of a band of pushcart vendors who fight against the organized forces of big trucks on the congested, contested streets of New York City. For Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author, reading the book as a child was a formative experience. "It made opposition, even nonviolent civil disobedience, seem fun and right and necessary and heroic, and something even someone as powerless as a kid can and should undertake," he has said. March 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the date on which the events described in the book are said to have begun. So we invited Kushner on to talk about The Pushcart War and what it can tell us about how to defend human beauty and agency against the brutal forces of technocratic capitalism.   Get The Pushcart War, plus other great books for kids, at our Bookshop.org page.  Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at LifeAfterCars.com.  Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link and save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. TheWarOnCars.org    

3/17/26 • 57:45

Do people really like our all-enveloping autocentric system quite as much as everyone keeps saying they do? What kind of communities would they live in if given the choice? The answers, as a new study shows, are not exactly what so many of us have been told. Nearly one in five American car owners is "strongly interested" in living car-free, and another 40 percent are open to the idea. We talked about the implications of that study with its authors, Nicole Corcoran, Deborah Salon, and Hue-Tam Jamme, researchers at the Arizona State University School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning in Tempe.  Check out their research. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link and save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. TheWarOnCars.org    

3/10/26 • 45:54

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.*** In our latest Patreon bonus episode, we get into what we saw in the wildly different cities we hit on our last round of book tour (Miami! Pittsburgh! Toronto! Phoenix!). Then, we discuss how all the snow we have gotten this year has revealed some truths about what cars do to our cities and what we can learn from it. It's a lot! (And it's not just sneckdowns.) Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! www.thewaroncars.org

3/3/26 • 08:40

Brent Toderian has decades of experience in city planning, urban design, and transportation. He was chief planner for the city of Vancouver from 2006 to 2012, a time when the city hosted and was transformed by the Winter Olympics. As a consultant, Brent has advised and collaborated with folks from Auckland to Buenos Aires to Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and he often sparks conversation on social media, where he is one of the most prominent voices advocating for more human and humane urban design. We talked with him about how to make downtowns attractive and livable for families, why developers should value regulation, and that legendary urban Costco in Vancouver. Plus, Brent gives us the scoop on the new Urban Truth Collective and its mission to beat back the lies people tell about cities. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Find out more about Brent Toderian and all his projects at his website, and follow him on Bluesky. And check out the brand-new Urban Truth Collective, Brent's collaboration with Tom Flood and Grant Ennis. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. www.thewaroncars.org

2/24/26 • 47:40

Super Bowl LX had everything, from ads for weight loss drugs and male grooming products to spots touting tax prep services and calming fears about our AI overlords. It also had one outstanding halftime performance from Bad Bunny. But what the game didn't have was a whole lot of car ads. (Or a whole lot of touchdowns, but that's a different story.) Why, after dominating the broadcast for decades, has the automobile industry gone cool on one of broadcasting's biggest nights? And what did the few cars ads that did run say about the state of the nation and American culture at this particularly fraught moment in time? Ian Chillag—creator and host of the award-winning Radiotopia podcast "Everything is Alive," the co-host of NPR's "How to Do Everything," and a senior producer of "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me"—joins us to break it all down. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Watch all of the Super Bowl ads. (NY Times) Listen to Ian Chillag's podcasts How to Do Everything and Everything is Alive. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. www.thewaroncars.org  

2/10/26 • 70:56

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.*** When it comes to transforming cities and reclaiming space from the automobile, some of the best and boldest leaders are women. There's Mayor Anne Hidalgo in Paris and former Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, just to name two. Why is that so? That's the question explored by our guests, urban mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, in their new book: Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation. The Bruntletts discuss the qualities that have allowed these leaders—along with women planners, advocates, and policymakers—to reshape their cities to benefit people, not cars. When women lead, cities thrive. This bonus episode was recorded live at the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida. Thanks to Transit Alliance Miami for hosting this epic teamup. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. thewaroncars.org  

1/27/26 • 09:33

We talked with Dr. Bruce Appleyard, who has spent a lifetime thinking about what we mean when we talk about liveable streets—and why it is so important that we build our cities with human beings in mind, first and foremost. Bruce's research makes an appearance in Life After Cars, and his father, Donald Appleyard, was a legend in this field for his work that led to the indispensable book Livable Streets, published in 1981. In 2020 Bruce published Livable Streets 2.0, which brings his father's book up to date while preserving its core principles and teachings. We talked with him about how streets can foster (or erode) social ties in our communities, how car-centric infrastructure harms children's ability to navigate, and how we can fulfill what his father called "the promise of our streets." Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org

1/20/26 • 52:37

Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, otherwise known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, ushered in an unprecedented era of roadbuilding in the United States, becoming the largest public works project in the country's history. Designed to spread freedom and prosperity — and, as the name implies, provide for the national defense — these highways tore through urban neighborhoods, destroying once-thriving communities and displacing countless citizens, many of them people of color. In this special report, we examine just what inspired this massive project and the effects it had on two communities, one in New Orleans and one in Syracuse. This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org  

1/6/26 • 31:16

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.*** We were out in Portland, Oregon, for our book tour in November, and spent a lot of great time hanging out with Jonathan Maus, the legendary founder of Bike Portland. We sat down with Jonathan in his backyard shed/studio and talked about how a great bike city can get even better, the importance of transit, and how media is an important part of the movement for more human cities. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! www.thewaroncars.org  

12/30/25 • 06:29

We are back home in Brooklyn but we can't stop talking about everything we saw out on the road on our Life After Cars book tour. Listen for our takes on the second leg of our trip, which took us from Providence to Austin to Houston to Denver to Boulder…and then ended with a surprise diversion to an unexpected destination. We've seen so much along the way—like just how destructive freeway expansions can be. But also how cities can reclaim automobile infrastructure for humans! Plus, a shout-out to all the people who took such good care of us along the way.  Our book tour continues! Find out where we'll be next at lifeaftercars.com. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org  

12/23/25 • 78:00

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind as we hit the road (not in a car) to promote our new book, Life After Cars, in some of the greatest cities of North America including San Francisco, Washington, DC, Seattle, Vancouver, BC, Nanaimo, BC, Portland, OR, San Diego, and Los Angeles (as well as our home base of NYC, of course). Getting to visit all these cities in person, often walking and riding the streets accompanied by local advocates and elected officials, was a real joy and a privilege. We saw a lot! And maybe not surprisingly for a couple of podcasters, we had some thoughts about all of it—from excellent bike lanes and public spaces to transit service that left a lot to be desired and the horror that is Interstate 5.  Our tour continues! Find out where we'll be next at lifeaftercars.com.  Our upcoming schedule: Providence, RI: 12/2 Austin, TX: 12/4 and 12/5 Houston, TX: 12/10 Denver, CO: 12/12 Boulder, CO: 12/13  Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. 

11/25/25 • 66:55

This episode is part of a special series called "Changing American Car Culture" funded with the generous support of The Helen and William Mazer Foundation. As historian Peter Norton documents in his book, Fighting Traffic, the death and destruction caused by the introduction of automobiles into U.S. cities in the early part of the 20th century caused a lot of people to challenge the notion that such machines would ever become popular. In response, autmobile companies, car dealers, driving enthuisasts, and others went on the offense, creating the culture that gave rise to the mass adoption of cars and the phenomenon of forced car dependence. In this special episode, producer Ilana Strauss brings us a story that begins with the pushback against automobiles, the fight for speed governors, and the unlikely partnership between a Studebaker dealer and a young academic who manufactured the rules and norms that came to shape American streets at the expense of anyone who isn't in a car. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile, is out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now and find us on tour.***  This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood. Listen for the latest discount code. www.lifeaftercars.com

11/11/25 • 29:46

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. Back in September, Sarah moderated a conversation with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as part of Climate Week events in New York City. The event was presented by the Clean Cities Campaign and Respire, a Paris-based nonprofit that focuses on improving air quality. We talked about her work removing cars from the city, reducing air pollution, and cleaning up the Seine. Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!

10/28/25 • 02:14

Today we celebrate the publication of our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile. In this episode, we serve up a sample of the audiobook and talk about some of the things we learned and that surprised us during the process of bringing Life After Cars to publication. Also, who should play us in the movie version? Listen to hear our thoughts and let us know your opinion. We are so grateful to all of our listeners and supporters for making this day possible. Go out there and get your copy of Life After Cars wherever books are sold. Our Bookshop.org link. Please support independent booksellers! Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Thanks to Upway and Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. www.lifeaftercars.com  

10/21/25 • 43:58

In this episode, we talk about the Trump Administration's full-on financial assault on all the modes of transportation we hold dear here at The War on Cars. Biking, walking, public transit—basically, anything deemed "hostile to cars" or that has something to do with sustainability and equity is  under attack. Ted Mann, a reporter at Bloomberg News who has been covering the story, joins us to explain what is going on with federal transportation funding for active transportation projects and more. You can find more of Ted's work here or follow him on Bluesky. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Find us on tour in San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles and more. New dates are being added all the time. The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes. www.lifeaftercars.com  

10/7/25 • 38:16

Tim Gill is a London-based independent scholar, writer and consultant on childhood, and a global advocate for children's play and mobility. He is the author of Urban Playground: How Child-Friendly Urban Planning and Design Can Save Cities and No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society. We met Tim when he appeared on a panel with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo that Sarah moderated during Climate Week in New York. When we heard what he has to say about cities and children, we knew that we had to have him on the show. So we grabbed him before he could leave New York. We talked on a bench in City Hall Park on a weekday morning, so you can hear the sounds of a city that is waking up and going to work and school in the background. It was an appropriate setting for a chat about how we by making cities better for children, we make them better for everyone.  Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Find us on our book tour in San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington, DC, Portland, OR and more. We're adding new cities every week. The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes.  

9/30/25 • 37:45

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. If you spend any time at all on social media, you've seen countless videos of all kinds of different people talking about all kinds of different things with one setting in common: the car. We got together in the studio with journalist and author Mathew Rodriguez to discuss the way cars have become our nation's premier social media content studios—and all the weirdness that entails.  We talked drive-thrus, "Who the F*** Did I Marry," monetizing the school pickup line, and the way that cars have become the backdrop for the great unscrolling American self-documentation effort. Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Pre-order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, coming in October from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!    

9/23/25 • 07:42

Brad Lander has been a fixture in New York's progressive political scene for nearly two decades now, and has earned a reputation as a strong advocate for bike lanes, bike share, driver accountability, and congestion pricing. This year, though, he's become known in a new way. As a candidate in a crowded Democratic mayoral primary, Brad cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani, who eventually won the race with a margin that shocked the Democratic establishment. And in June, mere days before the primary ended, Brad was escorting a man named out of an immigration hearing when he was arrested by federal agents. Brad joins us to explain how his defense of the Prospect Park West bike lane as a then-new member of the New York City Council became a formative experience in his political career and why the courage and coalition building it takes to stand up for safe streets are also the same tools it takes to fight fascism. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive ad-free versions of regular episodes, exclusive bonus content, Discord access, presale tickets for live events, merch discounts, and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025. Pre-order now.*** Purchase tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th. And find don't miss our events in San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington, DC, and more. The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes. www.lifeaftercars.com

9/9/25 • 67:51

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. In this bonus episode, Doug and I discuss a couple of recent studies that look at just how destructive cars are to the social fabric of our communities, how they decrease life satisfaction, and how walkable neighborhoods with public gathering places are an important resources for combating the loneliness epidemic.  As we often say, we have custom-built our communities for cars, in the name of convenience. That obviously sucks for those of us who don't want to drive. But the crazy thing is, as we have often pointed out, that it also sucks for people who do think that driving it's a terrific way to get around. In the full bonus, we also give you our take on David Byrne's Subway Takes appearance—and his take about urban bike etiquette! Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Pre-order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, coming in October from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!    

8/26/25 • 08:10

Should the bus be free? That's the question everyone following the New York City mayoral race is asking, with Democratic primary winner Zohran Mamdani promising to focus on fast, free buses if he's elected to City Hall. Eliminating bus fares is a big idea, but is it a good one? Like a lot of things in politics, there's no simple answer. That's why we asked Yonah Freemark — a researcher in cities, land use, and transportation at the Urban Institute — to walk us through the pros and cons of making the bus free for everyone. Whatever you think about it, the good news is that everyone is talking about bus riders. That's a win in our book. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Purchase tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th. And find us in other cities for our book tour including San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, and more. The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes. Check out Mamala Food by Dani Finkel. (She designed our logo!) SHOW NOTES Learn more about Yonah Freemark and his work at the Urban Institute. Watch Zohran Mamdani on The Breakfast Club.  Charlie Komanoff: Free buses would mean faster buses and more riders. (Streetsblog) Andrew Cuomo has a less ambitious free bus plan. (Gothamist) Boston has free buses on three routes. (Boston.gov) New York's free bus pilot. (MTA.info) This episode was recorded at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. www.thewaroncars.org            

8/12/25 • 60:39

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. While we were researching and writing "Life After Cars" last year, we read and pulled information from dozens upon dozens of books. There were also a handful of books that caught our attention but that, try as we might, didn't quite warrant inclusion in our own. In this Patreon exclusive, we talk about two of these books: "Road Safety: How to Reduce Accidents" by T.S. Skillman (1965) and an anthology called "He Rides Beside You" (1957). For very different reasons, both are fascinating examples of the mindset of people who knew a life before cars and, more than halfway into the 20th century, were grappling with the reality of life during cars. Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Pre-order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, coming in October from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!

7/29/25 • 06:14

At this year's Velo-city conference in Gdansk, the theme was "Energizing Solidarity," in honor of the city's history as the cradle of the Solidarity labor movement that helped bring down Communism in Poland. Velo-city is an incredibly good-mood event put on each year by the European Cyclists' Federation, where people come from all over the world to share best practices in urban cycling, and to connect with their fellow advocates, elected officials, and other members of the wider cycling community.  Sarah talked with advocates, government officials, and researchers how bicycles build solidarity as people around the world fight for democracy and our planet's health. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Purchase tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th. The Patreon presale for our November 5th show at Town Hall in Seattle with City Nerd begins on Wednesday, July 16th. More shows will be announced soon. The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Xtracycle.   SHOW NOTES Check out all the great work that the European Cyclists' Federation does. Velo-city 2026 will be in Rimini, Italy. Thanks to Anthony Lau of Cyclehoop for the audio from the Cave Rave. Learn more about the Shawlands Bike Bus in Glasgow. Check out Bike Ottawa. E-Bike City Zurich imagines a city that deprioritizes cars. Find out about the COP Bike Ride for climate awareness. Read about Dr. Ian Walker's motonormativity research, along with fun facts about his other life as an ultradistance athlete. Learn more about Melissa and Chris Bruntlett.    

7/15/25 • 54:10

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, pre-sale tickets to live shows and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. Are cyclists too mean online? To read some of the headlines about a recent study, you'd think the answer was yes. "Forceful bike campaigners can undermine UK cycle lane planning, report finds," blared the headline in The Guardian. The subhead said that "toxic" online debates can make officials and other people in government reluctant to pursue cycling-related transportation projects. Adding one and one together, any reader would likely assume that it's those "forceful bike campaigners" who are mostly responsible for the "toxic" online debates. This story spread online and confirmed a lot of people's priors. Those darn cyclists! If only they'd behave they'd deserve safer streets! Not so fast. The actual study was a bit more complicated than the headlines and social media posts might have led people to believe. It also offers good lessons for effective engagement to get the change we want at the scale we need, no matter the issue. Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Pre-order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, coming in October from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond, including at our book publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn.

7/1/25 • 06:21

Why have some cities become places where it's easy to hop on a bike for daily transportation needs while others have languished or even been left behind? Is there some sort of magical combination of forces that separate the best cycling cities from basically everywhere else? Those are the questions asked by Cycling Cities: The Global Experience, a research project headed by Dr. Ruth Oldenziel, a Professor in The History of Technology at Eindhoven University of Technology. Nthoki Dorcas Nyamai, an Urban Development Researcher at International Planning Studies, TU Dortmund University, also joins us to talk about her research into African cities, local advocacy and cycling culture in places like Nairobi, and more. Looking far beyond the handful of Northern European cities that consume so much attention in the cycling world, the Cycling Cities project challenges us to take a bigger view of the factors that determine whether or not cities prioritize people over cars and to think beyond traffic counts or even two wheels. Ruth and Dorcas's research may surprise you. Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th are now available to the general public. They're going fast, so get yours now. This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was also supported by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling. Learn more about how an electric cargo bike can change your life and save $500 off a new bike with code WARONCARS500 at Xtracycle. SHOW NOTES Read about the Cycling Cities project and learn more about Ruth Oldenziel and Nthoki Dorcas Nyamai Here's the Guardian story about Amsterdam becoming an cycling city almost "by chance" that we mention in the episode. thewaroncars.org / lifeaftercars.com      

6/24/25 • 60:20

Recently, on an episode of the Netflix show Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, the subject turned to bike lanes. Or rather, the subject was turned to bike lanes by Natasha Lyonne. The actress, writer, director and producer said that bike lanes should be "shut down" and claimed that there is no space for them in Manhattan. Journalist Alissa Walker of Torched was on Everybody's Live as a "public transit expert" to talk about Uber, but soon found herself — as a public-transit-riding Los Angeles resident — defending bike lanes and explaining the rational apportionment of urban space to some pretty famous New Yorkers, all of them brilliant and talented. So why is it that otherwise intelligent people often say unintelligent things about bikes? Why do nearly all conversations about transportation, even one that's not about bicycles, devolve into NIMBY-style complaints about cyclists? What can advocates learn from a conversation that, if you strip away the big stars and the studio audience, was indistinguishable from a community board meeting? ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was also supported by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling. Learn more about how an electric cargo bike can change your life and save $500 off a new bike with code WARONCARS500 at Xtracycle. LINKS:  Support Alissa Walker's outstanding journalism by becoming an annual subscriber to Torched... and save $10! Follow Alissa on Instagram. Read Doug Gordon's take on the Everybody's Live episode in Streetsblog. Watch Everybody's Live with John Mulaney on Netflix. Read the reaction to the episode on Reddit. thewaroncars.org / lifeaftercars.com

6/3/25 • 51:33

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, pre-sale tickets to live shows and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars. And don't miss our new book, "Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile," now available for pre-sale wherever you purchase books. Enjoy this preview of our live show, recorded before a sold-out crowd at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis and presented by Our Streets on April 24th, 2025. Our guests included Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley, State Representative Samantha Sencer-Mura, filmmaker D.A. Bullock, and John Edwards of Wedge Live.  Patreon subscribers can hear the entire episode. Sign up today and help support our independent podcast.  

5/27/25 • 05:19

Charles T. Brown is a longtime friend of the podcast who was last with us in 2023. We welcomed him back to talk about his important new book, Arrested Mobility: Overcoming the Threat to Black Movement, out now from Island Press. Charles is the founder and principal of Equitable Cities, a minority- and veteran-owned urban planning, public policy and research firm focused at the intersection of transportation, health and equity. He is also an adjunct professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.  In Arrested Mobility, Charles applies his years of experience in the field to examine how what he calls "the four Ps"—policing, public policy, polity, and planning—come together to hold Black people back in fundamental ways, limiting their literal and figurative mobility. We talked about how to repair our cities, the importance of Black leadership, and what it truly means to "love thy neighbor"—as an urban planner and as a member of a community. ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. We are also supported by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling. Learn more about how an electric cargo bike can change your life and save $500 off a new bike with code WARONCARS500 at Xtracycle. LINKS:  Buy Charles T. Brown's book, Arrested Mobility: Overcoming the Threat to Black Movement, at our Bookshop page. Check out Charles's Arrested Mobility podcast and find out more about his work. thewaroncars.org / lifeaftercars.com

5/20/25 • 51:24

NOTE: This episode was originally released as a Patreon-exclusive bonus. For more episodes like this, please join The War on Cars on Patreon. We're an independent podcast and rely on listener support. Thanks! Marco te Brömmelstroet, also known as "The Fietsprofessor," returns to The War on Cars to discuss a new study he co-authored with Dr. Ian Walker, another former guest of the podcast. The study takes a look at a phenomenon where people accept the harms and risks associated with cars in ways they wouldn't in other areas of life. But unlike Dr. Walker's previoius study — and that of Dr. Tara Goddard, another friend of The War on Cars — this new study asks where motonormativity comes from and examines the ways in which it manifests itself differently depending on factors such as where a person lives or their perceptions of the beliefs of their friends and family. The results are fascinating. Marco also studies language and how it affects people's perceptions of mobility and had a lot to say about how we can tell better stories about who and what our streets are for. ***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.*** This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. This episode was also supported by Cleverhood. Save 15% on the amazing Arclight Pedals and everything from Redshift Sports with code WARONCARS at checkout. LINKS: "Why Do Cars Get a Free Ride? The social-ecological roots of motonormativity," a study by Marco te Brömmelstroet and Ian Walker. Read Marco's book, "Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform Our Lives," co-authored with journalist Thalia Verkade. Follow the Urban Cycling Institute on Bluesky. thewaroncars.org / lifeaftercars.com  

5/6/25 • 60:49