The War on Cars

Since 2005, the one and only Clarence Eckerson has made 1,200-plus short films documenting the safe streets movement and the transformations of streetscapes around the globe. We talk with the man behind the Streetfilms camera about the changes he has seen, his techniques and tricks for capturing life on the street, and how media can help advocates for better streets make real change in their communities.  We've both known Clarence for just about 20 years, so this was a great chance to talk about how far we've come, and how far the movement for more human streets has come, since we all met! Clarence is going to be with us at our big Hunter College show on Friday, November 6, screening the first Streetfilms feature-length documentary, Close Encounters of the 34th Avenue Kind: The Story of New York's Best Open Street. Also with us at Hunter will be a true New York City legend, Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the NYC DOT under the Bloomberg Administration, and the urban synth-pop sensation Pondless.  SHOW NOTES: Counting Cars in Prospect Park   Tour De Brooklyn 2007 featuring JSK:   Paint a Parking Lot, Put Up Paradise DUMBO   Times Square Opens to People:   Ghent Low Traffic Neighborhoods in London   Paris School Streets  Barcelona Superblocks: Change the Grid, Change Your Neighborhood Utrecht  New School Street Gate in Manhattan   Order our book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Get official podcast merch in our new store! Save 15% on the best rain gear for walking and cycling from Cleverhood. Listen to this episode and visit cleverhood.com/waroncars for your discount. Learn more how a Bunch Bike can help you go far-free and change the way you get around. Buy a bike and get a free set of party lights. Go to bunchbike.com/waroncars for more information. TheWarOnCars.org

***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.*** Last week, Tesla debuted its second-generation Roadster, staging an elaborate demonstration in which the car drove upside down before righting itself and then "flying" to a safe landing, thanks to some fancy SpaceX technology. After the demo—which also featured the car doing barrel rolls, leapfrogging over a line of other Tesla cars and trucks, and accelerating from 0 to 60 in one second—Lars Moravy, Tesla's VP of vehicle engineering, declared to Elon Musk and the assembled crowd, "flying cars are real." But are they?  Needless to say, we had some feelings about this so-called "flying car" and the general reaction to it in the tech media. We also wanted to get to the questions we think people should be asking anytime one of our billionaire overlords suggest that some new invention or technological advance is going to change the world or improve humanity: What problem is this trying to solve and who benefits? Buy our bestselling new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, published by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And don't miss our upcoming live shows, including our return to Hunter College on November 6th with special guest Janette Sadik-Khan. Check out the full schedule at LifeAfterCars.com. www.thewaroncars.org

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been laser-focused on ridding Toronto of as many bike lanes as possible, passing a new law to prevent the city from building new bike lanes and using the power of the provincial government to rip out existing ones. Targeted for removal are approximately 19 kilometers of bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue, important parts of the city's bike lane network. In just the last week, courageous activists have taken to the streets by the hundreds, with many people putting their bodies on the line every day to stop crews from dismantling bike lanes that so many Torontonians who ride bikes depend on. (Not to mention the people who don't ride bikes, who benefit from the traffic calming protected bike lanes provide.) Cycle Toronto executive director Michael Longfield as well as Bronwyn Roe, an attorney with Ecojustice, join us to talk about where things stand, the continuing legal battle, and what this all means not just for Toronto, but for the future of safe streets and of local control. The fight to save Toronto's bike lanes may be one of the most important stories in the world of safe streets and transportation right now, with big implications for cities' abilities to determine their own destiny.  SHOW NOTES: Protesters were successful in getting bike lane removal crews to stand down. (Toronto Star) People continue to put their bodies on the line to save Toronto's bike lanes. (CBC) Provincial government findings contradict the provincial government's reasoning for removing bike lanes. (Toronto Star) Ford government rejected Toronto's compromise to keep bike lanes and car lanes. (Toronto Star) The fight to save Toronto's bike lanes may go all the way to Canada's Supreme Court. (CBC) John Lornic: What's happening in Toronto is about more than bike lanes. (Toronto Star) Support The War on Cars on Patreon. Get tickets to our live show at Hunter College on Friday, November 6th featuring special guest Janette Sadik-Khan, now featuring a post-show screening of the first feature-length documentary from Streetfilms! Order our book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Get official podcast merch in our new store! Save 15% on the best rain gear for walking and cycling from Cleverhood. Listen to this episode and visit cleverhood.com/waroncars for your discount. Learn more how a Bunch Bike can help you go far-free and change the way you get around. Buy a bike and get a free set of party lights. Go to bunchbike.com/waroncars for more information. TheWarOnCars.org

Since 2025, Nora Leerhsen has served as the acting president of the Chicago Transit Authority, the second-largest transit system in the United States and an indelible icon of the city. She is the first woman to fill the leadership role at CTA since the agency was established in 1947. We talked with her about the joys and challenges of running a system with ridership of more than 330 million a year, the way that children can help us appreciate transit, and the role of public transportation in fostering a healthy democracy. SHOW NOTES: CTA introduces child-sized benches at 10 'L' stops Red Line extension groundbreaking after judge makes Trump administration release funding Reddit thread, "What would you say to the CTA president Nora Leerhsen?" 2019 study on women in the transportation profession     Support The War on Cars on Patreon. Get tickets to our live show at Hunter College on Friday, November 6th featuring special guest Janette Sadik-Khan. Order our book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House.   Get official podcast merch in our new store! Save 15% on the best rain gear for walking and cycling from Cleverhood. Listen to this episode and visit cleverhood.com/waroncars for your discount. Learn more how a Bunch Bike can help you go far-free and change the way you get around. Buy a bike and get a free set of party lights. Go to bunchbike.com/waroncars for more information. TheWarOnCars.org  

***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.*** Ashik Jain is an architect, planner and the Bicycle Mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the fastest growing industrial city in India and one of the fastest growing cities in the country overall. With that growth has come a host of problems which are common to any rapidly developing region, including pollution and automobile congestion. Thankfully, the city is working on number of initiatives to help make life a little healthier and safer for the people who live there. One of those programs, named Harit Setu ("Green Bridge"), aims to deliver India's first 15-minute neighborhoods, with a complete network of bicycle lanes, continuous sidewalks, public seating, and—rather importantly in a part of the world feeling the effects of climate change quite acutely—green infrastructure and shade. Ashik's story offers lots of valuable lessons to all of us who do this work. Plus, as we discuss, bikelash may be the international language. Buy our bestselling new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, published by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And don't miss our upcoming live shows, including our return to Hunter College on November 6th with special guest Janette Sadik-Khan. Check out the full schedule at LifeAfterCars.com. www.thewaroncars.org