The War on Cars posts
Posts: 226
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BONUS: Voices of Velo-city
Hello, friends!In June I had the opportunity to attend Velo-city, an annual cycling summit hosted by the European Cyclists' Federation that brings together elected officials, city planners, advocates, industry representatives, academics and regular bike-curious citizens. It was an inspiring event that left me — and, as you'll hear in this bonus episode, everyone else — inspired and rejuvenated.I was there to speak on a panel of conten...
Love Connection: The War on Cars edition
Hello Patreon supporters!We're hoping you'll help us with an idea we have for an upcoming bonus episode, inspired by a listener's recent email:Hello friends!!Idea for an episode: I have a friend here in [CITY REDACTED] who is constantly dating lots of men and convincing them fairly immediately - like first or second date - to buy a bike and ride public transit. I feel like she is single handedly helping large swaths of our male popula...
BONUS: Walking 4,000 Miles with Holden Ringer
Hello all!This month’s exclusive Patreon bonus episode is an interview with Holden Ringer, who recently finished walking more than 4,000 miles across the country from the starting point of LaPush, Washington. Holden is a 26-year-old originally from Dallas, Texas, and he used his odyssey to fundraise for the organization America Walks, as well as to raise awareness about active transportation and meet with fellow-minded advocates along the way. ...
EPISODE 131: John Forester and Vehicular Cycling
Hello Patreon supporters!"Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles."That quote is the core philosophy of a man named John Forester, the father of vehicular cycling. Forester, who died in 2020, was a major figure in the the world of cycling advocacy and transportation policy, and his influence shaped street design and bicycle safety in the United States for decades. In fact, even with all the progress made ov...
EPISODE 130: Critical Mass Nairobi with Cyprine Odada
Happy summer, everyone!We have a quick episode to kick things off for July. Last month I was in Ghent at the Velo-city Conference, an annual gathering of transportation officials, planners, and advocates, all focused on growing cycling as a form of regular transportation. Ghent has done a lot to curb car traffic in the center of the city and I'll have more from my trip — and more about Velo-city — in future episodes.Among the amazing advo...
EPISODE 129: Killed by a Traffic Engineer
Hello!Because it has the word “engineering” right in there, the field of traffic engineering is something most people assume is governed by scientific studies and rational rules. But a new book, written by a traffic engineer himself, argues that is not the case at all. In Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion That Science Underlies Our Transportation System,Wes Marshall, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Co...
EPISODE 128: Women's Freedom to Ride
Hello!If you've heard our emergency episode on New York Governor Kathy Hochul's congestion pricing flip-flop, you know it's been a wild week. There will surely be more news to come, but we now return to our regularly scheduled programming.We turn our attention to the other side of the pond, where the advocacy group London Cycling Campaignwanted to know... why don’t more women ride bicycles in London? The asked and what they discover...
EPISODE 127: Kathy Hochul's Congestion Pricing Flip-Flop Fiasco
Hi everyone!By now, many of you have heard about New York Governor Kathy Hochul's 11th-hour decision to "indefinitely suspend" congestion pricing, the program that would have charged drivers to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Her move, announced in a prerecorded video on Wednesday, June 5th, came mere weeks before congestion pricing was set to launch, jeopardizing what was set to be a major funding source for transit and a revoluti...
BONUS: The War on The War on Cars
Hello!For this month's exclusive Patreon bonus episode, we take a look at three states that have attempted to ban everything from bus rapid transit to taxing driving by vehicle miles traveled. While most of these initiatives have failed, one of these states successfully banned bus wraps, but not because bus wraps make it harder to see out of bus windows.What is going on? We take a look at recent news from Indiana, Arizona and Florida. Take a ...
Join us in Brooklyn for our Summer Meetup!
Hello, friends of The War on Cars!It's been a long time since we held a listener meetup, but with summer upon us we decided it's finally time for another one.Sorta late notice, but please join the hosts of The War on Cars and friends on Saturday, June 1st starting at 3 PM on the Vanderbilt Avenue Open Street in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights. We'll meet close to the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Prospect Place. (Olde Brooklyn Bagel...
EPISODE 126: Winter Cycling in Oil Country
Hello Patreoners!Have we got a fun — and long — episode for you.It's May! Bike Month! A time of glorious weather in most of North America and the northern hemisphere. But let's talk about WINTER!Back in February, we attended the Winter Cycling Congressin Edmonton, Albertaat the invitation of Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz.The minute Michael emailed us and asked us if we wanted to do a live show there, we were intrigued. We said...
EPISODE 125: When Driving Is Not an Option with Anna Zivarts
Hello, Patreoners!As you know all too well, the United States has built a transportation system centered around automobiles. But one-third of the nation’s population can’t drive, whether because of disability, age, financial hardship, immigration status, or any of a host of other factors.Those tens of millions of people are often invisible to planners and elected officials, and that’s why Anna Letitia Zivarts, herself a low-vision nondriver...
BONUS: Dodge’s “Deeply Weird” Pitch for Electric Muscle Cars
Hello, Patreon friends: We were getting ready to record our "Cybertrash" episode with Ed Niedermeyer last month when Ed happened to bring to our attention this "deeply weird" ten minute-long extended car ad. It's a promotional video for Dodge's new, "Next-Gen Charger," the electric-powered version of the very same "muscle cars" that Doug confronted at the New York International Auto Show in Episode 85and Aa...
EPISODE 124: Tesla Cybertrash with Ed Niedermeyer
Dear Patreonistas:On the one hand, you don't want to give Elon Musk any more attention. After all, it's the thing he craves most. On the other hand, the world's only podcast dedicated to counter-programming car culture bears a heavy responsibility. We must discuss the absolute piece of trash that is the Tesla Cybertruck. To help us fulfill our grave obligation we invited journalist Ed Niedermeyer back to the show.Ed is the author of L...
EPISODE 123: The Texas Freeway Fight with Megan Kimble
Hello, Dear Patreon enlistees! Journalist Megan Kimble's new book is out today! The first stop on her media tour? It's The War on Cars (Sorry, Fresh Air). We have had Megan on our "must get" list for a few years now. Well, we got her and had a great conversation about what is arguably the biggest battle currently underway in the so-called war on cars. Hope you enjoy the ad-free episode and thanks so much for your support. We reall...
EPISODE 122: Car Insurance is Too Cheap
Hello, friends of The War on Cars!For our latest episode, we take a look at something we've never covered on the podcast before: car insurance in the United States and why it's too cheap.We can hear the response of all the drivers out there. "Too cheap? You gotta be kidding me. I've never paid more for car insurance." That's very true. Today, the average annual premium for full coverage is more than $2,500, up from more th...
EPISODE 121: Live from New York with Bernie Wagenblast
Hello!Last week we dropped the full video of our live show at Caveat just for Patreon supporters. This week we're releasing an edited audio version into our podcast feed for folks who want the live show in their ears instead of in their eyes. We hope you enjoy it. As always, Patreon supporters get an ad-free version of the episode.If you missed our live show, we think you'll love our interview with Bernie Wagenblast, the voice of the New ...
PATREON BONUS VIDEO: Live at Caveat!
Hello, friends of The War on Cars!Thank you to everyone who came to see our live show at Caveat on January 31st. We had a great time chatting with our guest, the voice of the New York City subways, Bernie Wagenblast. The show also featured a surprise appearance from pro-car comedian Charlie Dektar, a Cleverhood / The War on Cars anorakgiveaway, and a fun Q&A with the audience.Best of all, we met so many listeners in person, with the majority of t...
BONUS: Super Bowl Extra
Hello, friends of The War on Cars!As promised, here's a quick Patreon bonus episode in which we continue the Super Bowl conversation we began on episode 120. If you haven't heard that one, go back and take a listen!In this bonus, we discuss two ads. One is a bit old but recently resurfaced and made the rounds on social media. It's an ad from the Dutch brewing company Amstel, and it's the perfect antidote to the excess of the typic...
EPISODE 120: Super Bowl LVIII Roundup
Hello, good people of Patreon!it's time for our annual Super Bowl roundup episode!This has become a tradition for us and it's always a fun one to produce and record. It usually takes about a week to get this one out, but thanks to an early recording session on Monday and some heroic work by our editor Yessenia Moreno we are able to release episode CXX (see what we did there?) with the Big Game still fresh in everyone's minds.This was ...
EPISODE 119: Should SUV Ads Be Banned?
Greetings, Patreoners!Did you ever see a car advertisement that you thought was so ridiculously irresponsible it should be banned? Well, the people at Adfree Cities, an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom, did, and they decided to do something about it. They went up against Toyota over an ad for the Toyota Hilux SUV that shows drivers ripping through sensitive natural areas and cities—and they won, getting the ad taken off the airwaves a...
TONIGHT: Livestream our Live Show
Hello, Patreoners!If you missed out on getting in-person tickets to our live show at Caveat in New York tonight or don't live anywhere near New York or just prefer staying at home, you can still watch the show via livestream.Livestream tickets are available here.Our guest tonight will be Bernie Wagenblast, the voice of the New York City Subway System. Bernie is also a veteran transportation reporter, so we'll be asking her what she's ...
BONUS: Delivering the Goods with Shawon and Fokhrul
Hello, Patreon friends:In the last episode of the podcast we spent some time with Baruch, Shawon, and their battery-swapping startup company, PopWheels. When I started working on that episode, I figured I was going to learn a lot about e-bikes, batteries, and the delivery app business. And I did! But over the course of more than a half dozen interviews and conversations between May and December 2023, I also learned a lot about Bangladeshi politic...
The Future of Transportation Has Arrived With Your Pad Thai
Hello, Patreon Friends:I've been following Baruch Herzfeld and the development of his start-up company, PopWheels since last May. This episode of The War on Cars is the result of more than a half dozen interviews with Baruch and the Bangladeshi delivery workers who are using PopWheels' e-bike battery-swapping system. Going in to this project, I thought I was going be nerding out on electric bikes, battery technology, and the delivery app ...
Can't Make The Live Show? Watch the Livestream!
Hello, friends of The War on Cars!Our live show at Caveat on January 31st is sold out, with the majority of those tickets purchased early by Patreon supporters. We're so grateful to all of you for the positive response. Next year we'll have to do more nights or find a bigger venue... hopefully with valet bike parking.If you missed out or simply can't make it anyway because you don't live in New York or just aren't doing indoor...
EPISODE 117: Fixing America's Car Culture with David Zipper
Happy New Year to our Patreon crew! We are so excited for the months ahead. It's a busy time here at The War on Cars headquarters!We’re kicking off 2024 by bringing you our conversation with David Zipper, one of the hardest-working analysts on the transportation scene today. You may be familiar with David from his writing at Bloomberg CityLab, Slate, The Atlantic and Fast Company, where he relentlessly covers road safety, climate change, an...
BONUS: Listener Origin Stories
Hello!Last month we told you our origin stories. Everything from early driving lessons to our experience living in car-dependent places has informed our journey to becoming radicalized, so to speak, into The War on Cars.Now it's your turn! We put out the call for listener origin stories, and — wow! — did you deliver. We heard from people all over the world about how they began to see the problems with car dominance, with stories ranging f...
HOLIDAY BONUS EPISODE: Hess for the Holidays
Hello, friends!Just in time for Christmas, here's a extra bonus episode all about one of our favorite holiday traditions: the annual release of the Hess Truck.Since 1964, the Hess Corporation has released a toy truck for the holiday season, something that’s highly anticipated by children and collectors alike. Models have included gas tankers, fire trucks, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and even a Space Shuttle, almost all in the fossil fuel c...
EPISODE 116: Road Ecology with Ben Goldfarb
End-of-year greetings, Patreoners!In his new book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, independent conservation journalist Ben Goldfarb writes about how roads and cars are wreaking havoc on nature across the globe. He reports back about the people trying to save everything from butterflies to deer to wallabies to salamanders from the destructive power of motordom. Plus, he helps us analyze a couple of egregious ads th...
EPISODE 115: What the Hell is Happening In the UK?
Hello!British politics have always been interesting, but the last few months have been a wild ride as far as transportation, traffic safety and climate are concerned. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been on a tear about ending what he calls "the war on motorists," launching a full-scale culture and policy war to push back against sensible policies meant to protect people, the British economy and the planet.First, the Conservative Party ...
