Running the Chicago Transit Authority with Nora Leerhsen
The War on Cars
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: Order our book, . Get official...
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PREVIEW: Ashik Jain, the Bicycle Mayor of One of India's Fastest Growing Cities
The War on Cars
***This is a preview of a . 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, .*** Ashik Jain is an architect, planner and the , 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...
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Fighting for Federal Transportation Dollars with Mike McGinn
The War on Cars
How will the United States spend $580 billion in federal funds for transportation over the next five years? That’s the question facing Congress right now, as it’s time once again for the transportation reauthorization bill. Our spending priorities have always been wildly lopsided in favor of highways, but under the Trump Administration, the attacks on projects that prioritize transit, biking, and walking are more virulent than ever—and as a result, this bill (which they’re calling the BUILD America 250 Act) could be worse than ever for advocates of active transportation. We...
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Fine, We're Doing a Helmet Episode
The War on Cars
After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a social media video showing him listening to concerned citizens and deciding to wear a bicycle helmet, social media exploded. Some people praised the mayor for modeling good behavior while others wished he had kept the focus on larger safety solutions, like protected bike lanes. Needless to say, the conversation was not all that nuanced. So what’s the truth about bicycle helmets? What are they designed to do in the event of a crash and what kind of crash are they designed to help you survive? Who sets the standards that ensure that bike...
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PREVIEW: What Bicycles Can Do for Cities, via Velo-city 2026
The War on Cars
***This is a preview of a . 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, .*** What can bicycles do for cities? That's the question we asked attendees at this year's , organized by the European Cyclists' Federation and held in the Italian city of Rimini. Lots of mayors and elected officials and even advocates talk a lot of what cities should do for cycling, but making it easier for people to cycle in a city unlocks a host of benefits, even for people who will never get on...
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Let's Get Political [Re-release]
The War on Cars
***We're taking a quick summer break this week so we're releasing this recent into the general feed. We hope you enjoy it as a taste of what you can get if you . We'll be back soon with another regular episode.*** How can people who care about safe streets, transit, and other issues related to our movement take their advocacy to the next level to not just win hearts and minds, but influence elections and enact good policy? There are now a growing number of small political action committees and lobbying groups that have sprung up to explicitly influence and endorse candidates that they...
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Human Transit with Jarrett Walker
The War on Cars
Jarrett Walker’s career has been dedicated to improving the quality of public transit in the United States and beyond. A specialist in bus network design, he has led transit planning projects around North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand for decades. He is also the author of the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. It’s a classic in the field, and a revised edition came out from Island Press last year. We talked with him about why buses should get more love and how transit advocates can fight for their systems in...
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PREVIEW: Bike is Best with Adam Tranter
The War on Cars
***This is a preview of a . 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, .*** For our July bonus, we speak with Adam Tranter, the former cycling and walking commissioner for the city of West Midlands in the UK and the founder and CEO of about effective messaging for better and safer cycling. Some of you may know Adam as one of the co-hosts of the . At Fusion Media, Adam created the #BikeIsBest campaign, which included It cuts right to the absurdity of building a...
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Final Dispatches from Book Tour
The War on Cars
Our final Life After Cars book tour roundup episode is here, with our reports from Atlanta, Memphis, Chicago, Montréal, Orlando, Portland, Maine, and many, many more great North American cities! We get into the good, the bad, and the ugly of everything we saw out there on the road. Plus a discussion of…Reverse Copenhagen Syndrome? for access to ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content. Order our book, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Save 20% on everything in our with code HOTBIKESUMMER. Buy a certified, pre-owned e-bike or sell your own bike! Visit to get...
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Sidewalk Nation
The War on Cars
In most parts of the United States and elsewhere, sidewalks exist in a legal grey area. They are public spaces that, at least when it comes to things such as maintenance and snow removal, are largely the responsibility of private property owners. They are subject to all manner of laws that govern what kinds of activities can take place on them, laws that change not just from city to city, but sometimes from neighborhood to neighborhood, block to block, and address to address. They are also an important part of the transportation network and a key component in the effort to keep pedestrians...
info_outlineShould 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.