Look Both Ways with David & Wes

Gas Prices – David & Wes dig into the upside of high gas prices and why the story is more nuanced than it often seems. While rising costs at the pump can create real challenges, they also explore how higher prices can make other modes more attractive, reinforce location efficiency, and shift how people think about transportation more broadly. It’s a conversation about how gas prices shape behavior, influence our transportation system, and what gets lost when we only talk about them as a political problem. Other topics: 🔹 Our most harrowing driving experiences 🔹 How we mismeasure road safety 🔹 Indy cars on real Washington, DC streets 🔹 St. Patrick’s Day Rail Drinks Additional resources: Check out Chapter 23 (The Mirage of More Mileage) in Wes' Book: & David's Recent Article: The US Is Counting Traffic Deaths Wrong International Transport Forum Road Safety Annual Report 2025 ‘Freedom revs’: Trump administration, DC mayor unveil details of Washington IndyCar race Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Mailbag! – David & Wes take listener questions on any and all things transportation. Before doing so, they talk about why David is at the Northwestern Transportation Library. The answer? He’s writing a book about congestion pricing called The Price of Traffic. Other topics include: 🔹 Sovereignty Implications of Cars 🔹 Bentley’s Law 🔹 Headlights 🔹 Insurance Companies Subsidizing Rural AVs 🔹 Our Favorite Intersections 🔹 Does Traffic Congestion Help or Hurt Safety? 🔹 BRT vs Subway 🔹 Value Capture Under- or Overused 🔹 Murder She Wrote (yup) Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Florida Men – David & Wes venture down to Fort Lauderdale for the 2026 Safe Roads Summit. After their respective talks, they jump on stage to record a live podcast episode with Broward MPO Executive Director, Greg Stuart. Topics include: 🔹 The Brightline Train Destroying a Delivery Robot 🔹 The Long History of Unsafe Streets in Florida 🔹 Managed Lanes Moving from Nonstarter to Normal Additional resources: Delivery robot demolished by train in South Florida Dangerous By Design Report by Smart Growth America Find out more about Greg Stuart And the Safe Roads Summit Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org  

Rural AVs – David & Wes take a deep dive into the future of rural transportation and why mobility challenges outside our cities deserve far more attention. From David’s experience trying to get around West Virginia to Wes’ take on “rural urbanism” and the awesomeness of some rural Main Streets, they explore what rural villages get right, where and why rural areas struggle, and how autonomous vehicles might help the cause even more so than in urban areas. Other topics: 🔹 Iowa’s Anti-Bike Bill 🔹 Rural Transportation 🔹 The 2026 Safe Roads Summit Additional resources: 'The most anti-biking bill in history' — Iowa’s near-total bike ban proposal is bizarre and alarming New Jersey Passes Most Restrictive E-Bike Law in the U.S. Some Florida lawmakers look to strengthen e-bike laws Disturbing Utah ‘Bikelash’ Bill Takes Aim at Salt Lake City Traffic Calming David’s related articles: AV companies are ignoring rural America. That's a shame. The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level Wes’ related research: Assessing urban/rural road safety disparities in the US Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org

Parking Meters – David & Wes unpack the recent multi-billion-dollar resale of Chicago’s parking meter lease and why it matters. They explain the contract, including the compensation clause, and how it continues to hamstring Chicago’s ability to improve transportation. They also explore the less-discussed reality that some good has come from the deal such as a city that actually charges market rates for curbside parking. Then, borrowing a lesson from Taylor Swift, they explore how Chicago could someday afford to buy back their meters. Other topics:  🔹 Amtrak quiet cars… and maybe some party cars? 🔹 The future of useful transit 🔹 Trump’s love for mini-cars (he may be right) Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation. Additional resources: Chicago parking meter deal: City's meters sold to another private company, Mayor Johnson says Henry Grabar’s Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World RTD’s CEO says charging for parking, focusing on events could help transit recover And David’s Mini-Car Stories... Tiny Cars, Big Opportunity  What Do US Vehicle Regulators Have Against Tiny Cars?   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org  

AV Safety – David & Wes explain why an online kerfuffle about autonomous vehicle safety unexpectedly put David himself in the spotlight. They unpack why autonomous vehicle debates so often generate more noise than insight, how narratives take on a life of their own, and what cities should be paying attention to right now. Listeners will come away with a clear sense of where autonomous vehicles truly stand and why context, logic, and governance matter more than bold promises. Other topics: 🔹 The quick start to the Mamdani era in NYC 🔹 Listener questions & what mode of transportation would win Survivor 🔹 A rehash of our first ever in-person Rail Drinks in DC Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation. Additional resources: Officials showed off a robo-bus in D.C. It got hit by a Tesla driver NCHRP Project 17-97: “Strategies to Improve Pedestrian Safety at Night” David’s Original Stories… Bloomberg: We Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers Financial Times: Europe doesn’t need driverless cars And the back-and-forth... Why David Zipper is Wrong Why David Zipper is Right (by Peter Norton) NYC doing things… Mamdani Takes the Bite Out of ‘the Bump,’ Paving Over Hated Road Hazard Mayor Mamdani Announces City to Complete Redesign on McGuinness Boulevard Fast Buses: Mamdani Administration Moves Forward With Stalled Madison Avenue Bus Lane Project   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org

Robotaxi Meltdown – David & Wes discuss how robotaxis affect urban resilience after a blackout brought mayhem to San Francisco’s streets. As robotaxis expand in cities across the United States and Europe, how will they react to emergencies and unforeseen events? If autonomous vehicles freeze en masse, transportation networks could grind to a halt. Other topics: 🔹 The quiet power of city sidewalks 🔹 Best ways to keep biking in the winter 🔹 The uncertain future of transportation & urban planning research under Trump Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation. Additional resources: Info about the Waymo meltdown during the San Francisco blackout David’s recent Bloomberg article questioning whether AVs really are safer than humans Wes' paper with Peyton Gibson on the disparate approaches cities take to maintaining roads and sidewalks Wes' paper with Nick Coppola about municipal policy impacts sidewalk availability & width Wes' paper with Nick Coppola about how much static obstructions affect the clear width of sidewalks David’s 2025 article in Bloomberg about Denver’s innovative sidewalk program Crossroads, the “TRB alternative” taking place in DC Jan 15 David’s 2025 article about transportation research censorship under Trump   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org  

End of Year Extravaganza – David & Wes toss the usual format aside to look back at the transportation stories that defined 2025. From policies and headlines that made them hopeful to moments that were equal parts absurd and infuriating, they reflect on what the past year revealed about the state of streets, transit, and transportation more broadly. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of the trends that mattered, the narratives that fell apart, and the questions that still haven’t been answered. The episode wraps with a look ahead to 2026, including what we will be watching closely in the coming year and why some unresolved fights are likely to resurface. And yes, we still close things out with a few rail drinks. Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation. Some additional resources: David’s biggest laugh of the year (pedestrians told to keep to the left in Melbourne) David’s favorite dress from Toronto’s 2025 bike wars David’s most promising innovation: DADSS David’s favorite article of the year, about vehicle blind zones changing over time David’s most thought-provoking book: More and More and More by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org   

Waymo in Cities – David & Wes explore why cities are beginning to push back on Waymo and other robotaxi companies, and what that resistance reveals about local control, safety, and trust in emerging technologies. Using Boston’s response as a case study, they dig into the tensions between innovation narratives and municipal responsibility. Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of why cities are asserting themselves now, what’s at stake in these confrontations, and how regulation shapes the future of automated mobility. Today, we're also talking about: 🔹 Memorable road trips & how they shaped our thinking about transportation, freedom, & access 🔹 The purported death of a major eBike player & what that signals about the micromobility market 🔹 New words for access & why the language we use matters for how transportation problems get framed Then, we take listener questions and partake in some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about transportation.  Some additional resources: ‘Attack on our way of life’: Debate around autonomous vehicles heats up in Boston The rise and fall of Rad Power Bikes: From breakout success to the brink of shutdown CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org   

Defunding Transit – David & Wes examine the growing efforts to defund transit through mechanisms like the Highway Trust Fund. What happens when transit funding is threatened and slowly hollowed out? Rather than treating these moves as abstract budget debates, they focus on the real-world consequences for reliability, coverage, and who gets left behind.  Today, we also talk about: 🔹 How we learn about transportation in a new city & what those first impressions reveal 🔹 What we mean when we say access & why the word often obscures more than it explains 🔹 Transportation trends in Europe that are not going the way we’d hope  Then, some listener questions and rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! Some additional resources: Elements of Access: Transport Planning for Engineers, Transport Engineering for Planners (2017) by David Levinson, Wes Marshall, & Kay Axhausen Politico Article: Trump administration proposals seek to eliminate transit funding Politico Article: Graves pans DOT proposal axing mass transit account   Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

New York City – David & Wes break down Mamdani's New York City’s new transportation agenda and & the priorities it elevates and avoids. We examine how political vision, implementation, and street-level realities align or clash... and what all this signals about where cities may be headed next. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of what’s genuinely new in the agenda, what feels recycled, and why meaningful change often arrives later than promised. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 Where we went, what we saw, & how seeing cities up close shapes our transportation thinking  🔹 Back to the Future & how flying cars seem long overdue, but do we even want Marty McFly's future? Then we dive into the mailbag & have some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Traffic Noise – David & Wes dig into traffic noise as an overlooked public health problem and a quiet but pervasive form of harm in cities. Moving beyond annoyance, we explore how constant exposure to noise affects health, equity, and quality of life, and why it remains largely invisible in transportation decision-making. Listeners will come away with a better understanding of why noise matters, how it reflects deeper design choices, and what acknowledging this externality would change about how streets and cities are planned. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 Trick-or-Treating & how it's the more dangerous day of the year for kids 🔹 A proliferation of anti-car books & what this moment says about shifting public attitudes 🔹 The trials & tribulations of a young engineer trying to do better & Wes' advice for how to handle the ethical tensions Then, we have some rail drinks...stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! Here is David's article on the Anti-Car Books: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-10/car-brain-is-making-the-us-unhealthy-and-dangerous-evs-won-t-fix-it And "The Traffic Noise Externality: Costs, Incidence and Policy Implications" paper by Enrico Moretti & Harrison Wheeler:  www.nber.org/papers/w34298 Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Transit Funding – David & Wes dive into the growing threats to U.S. transit funding and why they matter far beyond agency balance sheets. By looking at how federal decisions shape what cities can build and operate, they unpack why transit in the United States costs so much, delivers so little, and remains perpetually vulnerable to political whims. Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of how funding structures quietly undermine reliability, access, and public trust in transit systems. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 Getting our driver’s licenses  🔹 An Amish paradise that includes eBikes & why technology adoption doesn’t follow cultural stereotypes 🔹Why transit vehicles cost so much more in the U.S. & what that means for service and expansion At the end, we have some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation.  Here is David's article (the first of its kind) on Why US Cities Pay Too Much for Buses: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-26/us-cities-are-paying-too-much-for-new-transit-buses And some other resources that might help your cause: - www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-cta-funding-safety/ - www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/nyregion/trump-nyc-subway-gateway-infrastructure-funding.html - www.brookings.edu/articles/paying-less-for-public-transit-buses/ Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Robotaxis – David & Wes look ahead to the arrival of robotaxis and what cities should be doing (or not doing) to prepare. Rather than asking whether autonomous vehicles will “work,” they focus on the decisions cities actually control. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of why waiting for technology to mature is not a plan, and how today’s choices could lock in decades of consequences for safety, access, and street life. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 How we go about finding a neighborhood to live in & what that reveals about transportation  🔹 Whatever happened to MaaS & why integrated mobility never delivered on its promises 🔹 Evolving bike lanes, bikelash, & John Forester & why old arguments keep resurfacing in new forms And then some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! If you are interested, here is David's new article on Cities & Self-Driving Cars: www.vox.com/future-perfect/461393/self-driving-cars-cities-congestion-avs-parking and his old one on MaaS: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/the-struggle-to-make-mobility-as-a-service-make-money Here is Wes' paper on how cities with more protected & separated bike lanes are safer for everyone: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301488 (if you don't like academic papers, this video explains our results: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwYeNz1jCkM) as well as the back-and-forth... www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140519305481 www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140519306310 Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Traffic Cameras – David & Wes take a closer look at traffic cameras and why they consistently poll better than most people expect. Rather than treating automated enforcement as a political third rail, they explore what the data actually show about public support, behavior change, and safety outcomes. Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of why traffic cameras succeed where many other safety interventions stall, and what that popularity reveals about how people experience streets day to day. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 Our first times riding transit & how those early experiences shaped how we think  🔹 Exporting car bloat & why oversized vehicles have become a global safety problem 🔹 99% Invisible & making a city 10% better for no money, & how small, low-cost changes can add up to meaningful improvements And stick around to the end for some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation!  If you are interested, here is David’s article on the popularity of automated traffic enforcement: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-28/automated-traffic-enforcement-is-more-popular-than-you-think Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Rainbow Crosswalks – David & Wes respond to the backlash against rainbow crosswalks and ask a more fundamental question: why are symbolic safety treatments (that have proven to help_ getting blamed for crashes instead of the underlying designs that put people at risk? Using recent controversies as a starting point, they unpack how U.S. road safety debates often focus on visibility and culture wars while ignoring the fundamentals of speed, vehicle design, and street/city geometry. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 What David noticed while traveling in Europe 🔹 The “misery index” & paratransit  🔹 The US/Canada road safety gap, what Canadian cities prioritize differently, and why those choices matter And it’s 5 O'Clock Somewhere so stick around to the end for some rail drinks... and stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! If you are interested, here is Wes’ paper about Paratransit: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198225000260 And David’s article on the growing divide in road safety between the US and Canada: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-13/the-us-and-canada-are-going-in-different-directions-on-traffic-safety Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org 

Tesla Autopilot – David & Wes unpack the implications of Tesla’s Autopilot being put on trial and ask what accountability for automated driving systems could or should look like. As tech companies promise to solve road safety, this conversation asks the harder questions. When technology fails, who bears responsibility, and who pays the price? We then examine why expensive hype-driven approaches to safety often distract from proven, low-tech, inexpensive solutions. Today, we also talk about: 🔹 The problem with tech-first safety narratives 🔹 The Boring-est Company & how cities get distracted by shiny solutions 🔹 The humble speed hump & why speed humps work when “smart” systems fail And stick around to the end for some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation. If you are interested, here is David’s article on speed humps: www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-08-05/all-hail-the-humble-speed-hump-the-best-cheap-traffic-safety-fix Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org   

Abundance in Transportation – David & Wes take on the idea of abundance in transportation. What would an abundant transportation system look like? Why do so many policies end up producing scarcity instead? We also explore how well-intentioned rules can limit who feels safe, welcome, or able to move through a city.  Today, we also talk about: 🔹 Which of us likes cars less (or more) 🔹 Bike helmet mandates & unintended consequences 🔹 The risk of a transit doom loop And then we have a couple rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation! Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) And in case you want to read David’s article on Abundance: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-03/when-the-abundance-movement-talks-about-transportation Or Wes’ paper on bike helmets and safety: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17457300.2024.2441501 Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org   

Fare-Free Transit – In this inaugural episode of Look Both Ways, David & Wes dig into the case for fare-free transit - and why the debate matters much more than the price of a bus ride. Does removing fares meaningfully improve access, safety, and ridership? Or does it distract from deeper structural problems in terms of how we fund and design transit? What can (and can't) fare-free policies accomplish, and what questions should cities be asking instead? The episode also sets the tone for the podcast itself in terms of why David & Wes felt this show was needed, what frustrates them about how transportation debates are usually framed, and how blind spots in conventional thinking continue to shape ours streets and cities for the worse. In this inaugural episode, we also cover: 🔹 What people get wrong about the “safest streets” in America 🔹 Why growing car design blind spots are still treated as an acceptable risk 🔹 How transportation conversations lose the plot... and how to bring them back And then we have some Rail Drinks! Stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation... Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound) Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org