The War on Cars

It's been hard to escape the ongoing disaster that is Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. But anyone who has been paying attention to Musk's understanding of transportation (or lack thereof) as well as his dig-tunnels-quick scheme saw all of this coming a long time ago.   ***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode.  Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to t...

We headed over to our sponsor Rad Power Bikes' new Brooklyn showroom last week to meet with founder and CEO Mike Radenbaugh and test drive his newly launched three-wheeler, the Rad Trike . The trike is very cool, beautifully designed, and tons of fun to ride. Manufacturing an e-trike is a big gamble for the young company. But Radenbaugh believes the Trike is his most accessible and transformationa...

In the spring of 2021, War on Cars co-host Aaron Naparstek started noticing lots of big loud muscle cars rumbling around New York City emblazoned with Instagram accounts. He began following cars on social media, immersing himself in a world of burnouts, donuts, street races, and takeovers. What happens when car culture meets social media and a city's street network becomes the infrastructure for t...

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our bonus content. As thanks, we'll send you stickers!*** Advice columnist and activist Dan Savage was our guest for episode 95, "Make Love Not Cars with Dan Savage." We had some fun side conversations that didn't make their way into the final edit so we'r...

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our exclusive ad-free bonus content. As thanks, we'll send you stickers!*** Major League Soccer player Tesho Akindele , a star forward who most recently played for the Orlando City Soccer Club, is also an outspoken urbanist who has used his social media pr...

Dan Savage, the writer and activist behind the long-running advice column  Savage Love , does not have a driver's license. In fact, he pretty much hates cars. Dan tells us what the early days of ACT UP and the fight for marriage equality can teach other social movements, including the worldwide movement against car dominance. Ever the advice columnist, Dan answers real questions from listeners. If...

Jonathon Stalls doesn't approach the streetscape as a planner or as a journalist or as a politician. He approaches it — and this is his term — as a "walking artist." Jonathan is the Denver-based author of  a new book called Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up, and Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour . For years, he has been leading urban walking excursions that have included planners and elected officials, invitin...

Late last summer, Doug headed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and decided to see if anything bikey was going on. As luck would have it, a kids' ride organized by local advocates was scheduled for the same weekend he was there. You've heard of a pub crawl? This was a playground crawl that took parents, caregivers and kids from one park to another using a combination of city streets and separated trails. In...

You see a lot of muscle cars on New York City streets these days. And with their modified mufflers and overpowered engines, you hear them too. Co-host Aaron Naparstek began noticing that a lot of the muscle cars he was seeing around town had stickers on them with the names of car clubs and their own Instagram accounts. He was intrigued. The Instagram account was, after all, an invitation to see in...

Summer is over, but honking season is just getting started. After a short delay — due to circumstances described in this episode — The War on Cars is back to celebrate our fourth anniversary and describe why the show's title seems to be in the news a lot these days, partly thanks to one U.S. Congresswoman. The hosts also catch up with each other and provide updates on what we did on our summer vac...

Our first episode of the month is running late so here's a bonus from earlier this year to tide you over. We'll be back soon! It's kind of hard to pin George Hahn down. He's a fashion icon, design aficionado, actor, social media star and a fearless defender of cities. The man the New York Times calls an "urban raconteur" joins The War on Cars to talk about efficient living by bicycle, how driving...

*** This is a preview of a bonus episode for our Patreon supporters.   Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars   for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content. And we'll send you stickers!*** We talked with essayist Garnette Cadogan, currently the Tunney Lee Distinguished Lecturer in Urbanism at MIT,  about his essay " Walking While Black ." Some of that conversation was featured...

Marley Blonsky, a bike adventurer and advocate for inclusive cycling communities, is the co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes , a group that aims to help people of all sizes and abilities to get out and enjoy riding. Marley talks about getting some major bike brands to address the needs of riders in larger bodies; the power of putting the words "fat" and "cyclist" together; and why her new home of Be...

*** This is a preview of a short bonus episode for our Patreon supporters.  Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars  for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content. And we'll send you stickers!*** In a new book, Paris Marx argues that Silicon Valley's vision of our transportation future – from autonomous vehicles to flying cars – is a threat to basic notions of community and conviv...

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. are at a 16-year high. One reason? Driver distraction. Today's automobiles are loaded with an almost cinematic level of screens, featuring apps and infotainment systems that blur the distinction between car and smartphone... and that overload the brain's cognitive abilities to a level not even trained military pilots can handle. Russ Mitchell , a staff writer at the ...

Journalist Edward Niedermeyer has been reporting on the automobile industry -- and its blind spots -- since 2008. He co-hosts the Autonocast podcast, focusing on the future of transportation. And he is the author of "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors." In his book, Niedermeyer chronicles the electric car maker's rise and lays bare the disconnect between the popular perception of Tes...

Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter and co-host of the Gimlet Media podcast  How to Save a Planet , joins us to discuss storytelling in an age of crisis. How can we effectively communicate that better streets, better cities and a better world are possible? How can we point regular citizens toward solutions that can not only fight climate change but improve their day-to-day lives? Plus, what wa...

According to Jody Rosen, a contributing writer for  The New York Times , we live on a bicycle planet. Across the world, more people use bicycles — for transportation, recreation, and their livelihood — than any other vehicle. In his new book,  Two Wheel Goods: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle , Rosen attempts to "de-quaintify" the bike, from its invention in 1817 to its current status as a v...

The New York International Auto Show was back and bigger than ever... and so were the cars. Our intrepid correspondents Sarah and Doug braved the crowds and sensory overload to hear straight from auto industry reps about the giant SUVs and muscle cars that will be prowling cities and suburban parking lots in the coming years. From the "menacing" and "in your face" Ford Bronco Raptor to the 800-hor...

From the joy of the "Just a Minute" campaign in San Francisco to the members of a colorfully named subreddit creating a digital parking lot, there's a lot of news in The War on Cars. We hear from listeners around the country and across the Atlantic. Is it possible to be more chill about people riding the wrong way in a bike lane? Should public transit be free? Why is it so hard to find a good bicy...

Back in 1952, the great American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury published a short story called "The Pedestrian" in a small antifascist publication. The story, which was based on Bradbury's own experience of being hassled by the cops while walking the streets of Los Angeles, imagined a world in which automobile dominance was so complete that walking for any purpose would be seen as a sign of m...

Spurred by post-pandemic demand and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, gas prices surged past $4 per gallon last week and Americans are suddenly freaking out about "pain at the pump." What a big surprise, right? Not really! In this episode, Slate's Henry Grabar joins us to argue that when it comes to the inherent instability in the global oil market, Americans have the memory of goldfish, locked in a r...

Back in 2004, Denver-area voters supported one of the most ambitious transit projects anywhere in the United States. The plan called for a network of new rail lines that would let commuters glide past traffic and transform Denver into a world-class city in the process. But almost two decades later, an uncomfortable truth has emerged: Denver's sprawling metropolitan region is as gridlocked as its e...

*** This is a preview of a short bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content. And we'll send you stickers!*** Journalist and producer Amy Westervelt joined us in Episode LXXXI for our annual shredding of the Super Bowl car ads. While we had her in the studio we absolutely had to chat with Amy about...

What do robot dogs, Meadow Soprano, WeatherTech bumper protectors and Dr. Evil have in common? They were al featured in ads during Super Bowl LVI, that annual celebration of American consumerism. In what's become a War on Cars tradition, we analyze car commercials that aired during the big game and try to figure out what they say about the future of streets near you. This time, we're joined by jou...