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_outlineAfter 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 helmets meet a minimum level of safety? What does science say about mandatory helmet laws? And, to ask a much larger and more philosophical question, what is it about the mere mention of bicycle helmets that causes the conversation about bike safety to go off the rails, even among people who are normally rather informed about other issues related to public health? What are we talking about—or not talking about—when we’re talking about helmets?
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Order our book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
SHOW NOTES:
Watch Mayor Mamdani’s helmet video.
Streetsblog: “A Helmet Won’t Save Mayor Mamdani from a Crash.”
New York Times: “Mayor Mamdani Wears a Bike Helmet. Finally.”
Popular Mechanics: “How a Bike Helmet Protects Your Head.”
Injury Prevention: Systematic reviews of bicycle helmet research
Safety Science: “Cycling fatalities: When a helmet is useless and when it might save your life.”
Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute: “Bicycle Helmet Standards Summary.”
Cycling Industry News: “Are helmet standards overdue a revision?”
Consumer Reports: “When You Really Need to Replace Your Bike Helmet.”
Journal of Safety Research: “The unintended impact of helmet use on bicyclists’ risk-taking behaviors.”
Injury Prevention: “A systematic review of correct bicycle helmet use: how varying definitions and study quality influence the results.”
Canadian Journal of Public Health: “Factors associated with bicycle helmet use and proper fit: a cross-sectional survey of Montreal cyclists during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Dr. Ian Walker: Bicycle overtaking studies
British Medical Journal: “No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets”
Urban Cycling Institute: “How Do Helmet Laws Impact Cycling Ridership?”
The Conversation: “Have helmet laws put the skids on Australia’s bike share scheme?”
Cascade PBS: “Nearly half of Seattle’s helmet citations go to homeless people”
Seattle Times: “Racial disparities prompt calls to repeal King County’s bicycle helmet law.”
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