The War on Cars

PREVIEW: Sean Duffy's Great American Road Grift 26.05.2026 8min

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. See the USA in your... Toyota? That's what US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and his family have done with their reality-style online series, The Great American Road Trip. The way Secretary Duffy explains it, the show is a celebration of the country's 250th birthday. Duffy has told interviewers that "To love America is to see America," so he's packed up the family SUV and hit the road. This being the Trump administration, the trip isn't just an exercise in patriotism but a giant conflict of interest packaged as a reality TV show. That's hardly surprising given Duffy's history with reality TV—Sean Duffy met his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy while shooting MTV's Road Rules in the late 1990s—but it is concerning given that the series is sponsored by nearly a dozen companies that have business before USDOT. Reporter Henry Burke—a senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project—breaks down the many questionable and outright shady details behind Sean Duffy's trip across the country, from the opaque non-profit organizing it to the many transportation-related companies footing the bill. Our bestselling new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, published by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is available wherever books are sold. www.thewaroncars.org

Taking the Transportation Fight to Congress from NY-7 19.05.2026 2t 5min

Antonio Reynoso, Claire Valdez, and Julie Won are all running in the June 23 Democratic primary for New York's 7th congressional district. That's the seat that opened up when veteran Democratic politician Nydia Velazquez announced she was retiring. It's a traditionally progressive district, covering neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. This isn't just about New York, though. Federal funding is incredibly important to local transportation, and that money is in danger. But a new generation of candidates across the country is prioritizing the issues that matter to us at The War on Cars. What role can congressional representatives play in making our streets and transit systems better? Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Interested in learning more about the NY-7 candidates? Links to their campaigns here: Antonio Reynoso Claire Valdez Julie Won 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 the book and find us on tour at LifeAfterCars.com. Buy a certified, pre-owned e-bike from Upway and save $100 off any purchase of $800 or more with code TWOC100. Visit Upway.co to get rolling. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. And check out the Lumos Ultra Smart bike helmet and the Firefly smart light system at RideLumos.com. Save 10% off your purchase with code TWOC10. TheWarOnCars.org

A Physical Education with Casey Johnston 12.05.2026 56min

Just as it is with road safety, so much of how Americans talk about health pushes the responsibility for eating right and exercising onto the individual, ignoring the many structural barriers that prevent people from making "good" choices. Through her newsletter, She's a Beast, and her bestselling book A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting, Casey Johnston cuts through the noise, making connections across various disciplines to help people rethink their notions about health, exercise and body positivity. Casey joins The War on Cars to talk about how "at the scale of daily life, cars should be systematically discouraged, in order to even begin to contend with the deaths and health decline from a lack of physical activity." ***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!*** Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find out the latest about our book tour at LifeAfterCars.com. LINKS: Buy Casey Johnston's books, A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting and Liftoff: Couch to Barbell, as well as books by all of our podcast guests at our official page on Bookshop.org Subscribe to Casey Johnston's newsletter, She's a Beast, and read her post on "the plot to strangle the American of life, liberty, and happiness." Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring The War on Cars. Listen for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling at 15% off. Buy a certified, pre-owned e-bike from Upway and save $100 off any purchase of $800 or more with code TWOC100. Visit Upway.co to get rolling. Check out the Lumos Ultra Smart bike helmet and the Firefly smart light system at RideLumos.com www.thewaroncars.org

Streets for Play, Streets for Freedom 28.04.2026 42min

Streets can be more than places to move and store cars—they can be places for children to grow and thrive. Alice Ferguson and Tim Gill are the UK-based authors of a new paper called "Streets for Play, Streets for Freedom: How a 'child lens' would transform transport policy." Each of them has decades of experience in envisioning a world where children can use streets safely and happily. Together they are calling for a "radical, child-centric approach to transport policy and planning." ***Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!*** Listen to our interview with Tim Gill from last fall. Read Tim's book, Urban Playground. Learn more about the Playing Out movement. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Get the book and find us on tour at LifeAfterCars.com. Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link to sell your bike. You can also save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. TheWarOnCars.org

A Doctor's View of Traffic Violence 07.04.2026 56min

We talk with a guest who knows firsthand just how destructive cars can be. Dr. Rex Tai is a physician who works in long-term care. Many of his patients are the victims of traffic violence. His experience providing care for these people has been part of his growing awareness of how our country's car-dependence creates and exacerbates inequality and division in our society and even in our global politics. We talk about all that, the effects of catastrophic injury for individuals and families, and how the public health crisis of traffic violence is just one aspect of a system that limits our mobility in so many ways, as well as dividing us from each other. If you'd like to check out some of the organizations Dr. Tai mentions in the episode, here they are: Los Deliveristas Unidos WE ACT for Environmental Justice NYC-DSA Ecosocialists Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Get the book and find us on tour at LifeAfterCars.com. Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link to sell your bike. You can also save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. TheWarOnCars.org

PREVIEW: Let's Get Political 31.03.2026 8min

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. For a long time, safe streets and transit advocacy organizations have had to play a careful game. While non-profit organizations can advocate for policies and infrastructure changes that protect pedestrians and cyclists and make transit more efficient and accessible, they can't endorse candidates for office or otherwise throw their weight around when another election rolls around. Thankfully, that's changing. There are now a growing number of safe-streets and transit-focused political action committees and lobbying groups that have sprung up to explicitly influence and endorse candidates that they see as friendly to the cause. How did they get started? How have they wielded their influence to elect good people who will enact good policies? Does it take a lot of money to make a difference? If ordinary people want to start their own PAC or lobbying group, where do they begin? We talk to the founders of StreetsPAC in New York, Streets PAC NJ, and the Better Streets Chicago Action Fund to find out how to win elections and influence politicians. Become a Patreon subscriber for full access. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! TheWarOnCars.org

Tony Kushner on The Pushcart War 17.03.2026 57min

The Pushcart War—written by Jean Merrill and illustrated by Ronni Solbert and first published in 1964—is a charming and provocative children's novel that tells the story of a band of pushcart vendors who fight against the organized forces of big trucks on the congested, contested streets of New York City. For Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author, reading the book as a child was a formative experience. "It made opposition, even nonviolent civil disobedience, seem fun and right and necessary and heroic, and something even someone as powerless as a kid can and should undertake," he has said. March 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the date on which the events described in the book are said to have begun. So we invited Kushner on to talk about The Pushcart War and what it can tell us about how to defend human beauty and agency against the brutal forces of technocratic capitalism. Get The Pushcart War, plus other great books for kids, at our Bookshop.org page. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at LifeAfterCars.com. Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link and save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. TheWarOnCars.org

America's Hidden Desire to Live Car-Free 10.03.2026 45min

Do people really like our all-enveloping autocentric system quite as much as everyone keeps saying they do? What kind of communities would they live in if given the choice? The answers, as a new study shows, are not exactly what so many of us have been told. Nearly one in five American car owners is "strongly interested" in living car-free, and another 40 percent are open to the idea. We talked about the implications of that study with its authors, Nicole Corcoran, Deborah Salon, and Hue-Tam Jamme, researchers at the Arizona State University School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning in Tempe. Check out their research. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Upway for sponsoring this episode. Use this link and save $100 off any order of $800 or more with the code TWOC100. Thanks also to Cleverhood. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get 15% off the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. TheWarOnCars.org

PREVIEW: What Snow Reveals About Cities (Plus More From Our Book Tour) 03.03.2026 8min

***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.*** In our latest Patreon bonus episode, we get into what we saw in the wildly different cities we hit on our last round of book tour (Miami! Pittsburgh! Toronto! Phoenix!). Then, we discuss how all the snow we have gotten this year has revealed some truths about what cars do to our cities and what we can learn from it. It's a lot! (And it's not just sneckdowns.) Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! www.thewaroncars.org

Planning Livable Downtowns with Brent Toderian 24.02.2026 47min

Brent Toderian has decades of experience in city planning, urban design, and transportation. He was chief planner for the city of Vancouver from 2006 to 2012, a time when the city hosted and was transformed by the Winter Olympics. As a consultant, Brent has advised and collaborated with folks from Auckland to Buenos Aires to Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and he often sparks conversation on social media, where he is one of the most prominent voices advocating for more human and humane urban design. We talked with him about how to make downtowns attractive and livable for families, why developers should value regulation, and that legendary urban Costco in Vancouver. Plus, Brent gives us the scoop on the new Urban Truth Collective and its mission to beat back the lies people tell about cities. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Find out more about Brent Toderian and all his projects at his website, and follow him on Bluesky. And check out the brand-new Urban Truth Collective, Brent's collaboration with Tom Flood and Grant Ennis. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. www.thewaroncars.org

Superbowl Roundup with Ian Chillag 10.02.2026 1t 10min

Super Bowl LX had everything, from ads for weight loss drugs and male grooming products to spots touting tax prep services and calming fears about our AI overlords. It also had one outstanding halftime performance from Bad Bunny. But what the game didn't have was a whole lot of car ads. (Or a whole lot of touchdowns, but that's a different story.) Why, after dominating the broadcast for decades, has the automobile industry gone cool on one of broadcasting's biggest nights? And what did the few cars ads that did run say about the state of the nation and American culture at this particularly fraught moment in time? Ian Chillag—creator and host of the award-winning Radiotopia podcast "Everything is Alive," the co-host of NPR's "How to Do Everything," and a senior producer of "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me"—joins us to break it all down. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Watch all of the Super Bowl ads. (NY Times) Listen to Ian Chillag's podcasts How to Do Everything and Everything is Alive. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation. www.thewaroncars.org

PREVIEW: Women Changing Cities with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett 27.01.2026 9min

***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.*** When it comes to transforming cities and reclaiming space from the automobile, some of the best and boldest leaders are women. There's Mayor Anne Hidalgo in Paris and former Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, just to name two. Why is that so? That's the question explored by our guests, urban mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, in their new book: Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation. The Bruntletts discuss the qualities that have allowed these leaders—along with women planners, advocates, and policymakers—to reshape their cities to benefit people, not cars. When women lead, cities thrive. This bonus episode was recorded live at the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida. Thanks to Transit Alliance Miami for hosting this epic teamup. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. thewaroncars.org

The Importance of Livable Streets with Bruce Appleyard 20.01.2026 52min

We talked with Dr. Bruce Appleyard, who has spent a lifetime thinking about what we mean when we talk about liveable streets—and why it is so important that we build our cities with human beings in mind, first and foremost. Bruce's research makes an appearance in Life After Cars, and his father, Donald Appleyard, was a legend in this field for his work that led to the indispensable book Livable Streets, published in 1981. In 2020 Bruce published Livable Streets 2.0, which brings his father's book up to date while preserving its core principles and teachings. We talked with him about how streets can foster (or erode) social ties in our communities, how car-centric infrastructure harms children's ability to navigate, and how we can fulfill what his father called "the promise of our streets." Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org

The Creation of America's Car Culture, Part 2 06.01.2026 31min

Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, otherwise known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, ushered in an unprecedented era of roadbuilding in the United States, becoming the largest public works project in the country's history. Designed to spread freedom and prosperity — and, as the name implies, provide for the national defense — these highways tore through urban neighborhoods, destroying once-thriving communities and displacing countless citizens, many of them people of color. In this special report, we examine just what inspired this massive project and the effects it had on two communities, one in New Orleans and one in Syracuse. This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation. Join The War on Cars on Patreon and listen to exclusive ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org

PREVIEW: Hanging Out with Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland 30.12.2025 6min

***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.*** We were out in Portland, Oregon, for our book tour in November, and spent a lot of great time hanging out with Jonathan Maus, the legendary founder of Bike Portland. We sat down with Jonathan in his backyard shed/studio and talked about how a great bike city can get even better, the importance of transit, and how media is an important part of the movement for more human cities. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now! www.thewaroncars.org

Dispatches from Book Tour, Part 2 23.12.2025 1t 18min

We are back home in Brooklyn but we can't stop talking about everything we saw out on the road on our Life After Cars book tour. Listen for our takes on the second leg of our trip, which took us from Providence to Austin to Houston to Denver to Boulder…and then ended with a surprise diversion to an unexpected destination. We've seen so much along the way—like just how destructive freeway expansions can be. But also how cities can reclaim automobile infrastructure for humans! Plus, a shout-out to all the people who took such good care of us along the way. Our book tour continues! Find out where we'll be next at lifeaftercars.com. 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! Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. www.thewaroncars.org

Dispatches from Book Tour 25.11.2025 1t 6min

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind as we hit the road (not in a car) to promote our new book, Life After Cars, in some of the greatest cities of North America including San Francisco, Washington, DC, Seattle, Vancouver, BC, Nanaimo, BC, Portland, OR, San Diego, and Los Angeles (as well as our home base of NYC, of course). Getting to visit all these cities in person, often walking and riding the streets accompanied by local advocates and elected officials, was a real joy and a privilege. We saw a lot! And maybe not surprisingly for a couple of podcasters, we had some thoughts about all of it—from excellent bike lanes and public spaces to transit service that left a lot to be desired and the horror that is Interstate 5. Our tour continues! Find out where we'll be next at lifeaftercars.com. Our upcoming schedule: Providence, RI: 12/2 Austin, TX: 12/4 and 12/5 Houston, TX: 12/10 Denver, CO: 12/12 Boulder, CO: 12/13 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! Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The Creation of America's Car Culture 11.11.2025 29min

This episode is part of a special series called "Changing American Car Culture" funded with the generous support of The Helen and William Mazer Foundation. As historian Peter Norton documents in his book, Fighting Traffic, the death and destruction caused by the introduction of automobiles into U.S. cities in the early part of the 20th century caused a lot of people to challenge the notion that such machines would ever become popular. In response, autmobile companies, car dealers, driving enthuisasts, and others went on the offense, creating the culture that gave rise to the mass adoption of cars and the phenomenon of forced car dependence. In this special episode, producer Ilana Strauss brings us a story that begins with the pushback against automobiles, the fight for speed governors, and the unlikely partnership between a Studebaker dealer and a young academic who manufactured the rules and norms that came to shape American streets at the expense of anyone who isn't in a car. 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, is out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now and find us on tour.*** This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood. Listen for the latest discount code. www.lifeaftercars.com

PREVIEW: A Talk with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo 28.10.2025 2min

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. Back in September, Sarah moderated a conversation with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as part of Climate Week events in New York City. The event was presented by the Clean Cities Campaign and Respire, a Paris-based nonprofit that focuses on improving air quality. We talked about her work removing cars from the city, reducing air pollution, and cleaning up the Seine. Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode. Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!

Welcome to Life After Cars 21.10.2025 43min

Today we celebrate the publication of our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile. In this episode, we serve up a sample of the audiobook and talk about some of the things we learned and that surprised us during the process of bringing Life After Cars to publication. Also, who should play us in the movie version? Listen to hear our thoughts and let us know your opinion. We are so grateful to all of our listeners and supporters for making this day possible. Go out there and get your copy of Life After Cars wherever books are sold. Our Bookshop.org link. Please support independent booksellers! 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! Thanks to Upway and Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. www.lifeaftercars.com