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Why don’t more women ride bicycles in London? The advocacy group London Cycling Campaign wanted to know, and so they asked. What they discovered was disturbing: Among more than a thousand women surveyed, nine out of ten said they experienced verbal abuse and aggression while biking. Ninety-three percent said drivers had used vehicles to intimidate them. One in five said they had given up riding permanently or temporarily after they had been harassed. And when women reported incidents of aggression to the police? The cops almost never followed up.
We spoke with the London Cycling Campaign’s Kate Bartlett about what women face on the road and what advocates are doing to make cycling safer and more accessible for all.
*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and stickers. ***
This episode was sponsored by Pinhead Locks and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount codes.
LINKS:
Check out the London Cycling Campaign’s initiative to get more women out and riding freely.
Merch! Pick up The War on Cars t-shirts, stickers and more in our store.
Purchase books from podcast guests and support independent booksellers at our official Bookshop.org page.
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In this emergency episode, we discuss New York State Governor Kathy Hochul's 11th-hour decision to "indefinitely suspend" congestion pricing, the program that would have charged drivers to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Her move, announced in a prerecorded video on Wednesday, June 5th, came mere weeks before congestion pricing was set to launch, jeopardizing what was set to be a major funding source for transit and a revolutionary plan to reduce traffic in a way never seen before in the United States.
Why did Hochul do this? Is it bad politics or atrociously bad politics? What does this mean for the future of the New York City subway system, commuter rail, accessibility, the environment, the economy and even democracy itself?
More importantly, we discuss what you can do if you live or work in the New York metropolitan area and want to see Hochul's flip flop reversed. We also discuss what effect this could have on cities across the U.S. that might be considering a congestion pricing program of their own.
WARNING: We swear a lot in this one.
To support everything we do at The War on Cars please become a Patreon subscriber. You'll receive access to exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free versions of regular episodes, free stickers and more. We depend on listener support, so thanks!
HELP SAVE CONGESTION PRICING:
Contact Governor Kathy Hochul and tell her to implement congestion pricing as planned: 1-518-474-8390
Local advocacy organizations have their own calls to action and can help you contact elected officials:
Riders Alliance
Transportation Alternatives
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
SHOW NOTES:
House Democrats pressured Hochul to tank congestion pricing. (Politico)
Noto a whole lotta teachers drive into Manhattan. (Hellgate NYC)
Read Aaron's take on Representative Hakeem Jeffries and congestion pricing from 2008. (Streetsblog)
Hear our original thoughts on congestion pricing back in episode 111 with Diana Lind.
This episode was recorded at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio by Josh Wilcox. It was edited by Doug Gordon.
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This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.
For this month's exclusive Patreon bonus episode, we take a look at three states that have attempted to ban everything from bus rapid transit to taxing driving by vehicle miles traveled. While most of these initiatives have failed, one of these states successfully banned bus wraps, but not because bus wraps make it harder to see out of bus windows.
What is going on? We take a look at recent news from Indiana, Arizona and Florida.
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An unlikely cycling revolution is happening in one of the coldest big cities on the planet: Edmonton, Alberta. Despite freezing temps, lots of sprawl, big trucks and an economy built on pulling oil out of the Albertan tar sands, the Western Canadian city is in the midst of a four-year, $100 million CAD investment in active transportation that will connect far-flung neighborhoods with a network of safe, high-quality, protected bike lanes. Many of these bike lanes will even get priority over roads for cars when it comes to snow removal. We traveled to the home of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers to attend the Winter Cycling Congress, where we talked with the people pushing for this transformation, including the city’s former mayor, Don Iveson. Plus, hear our appearance on drive-time radio in the heart of oil country.
*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and stickers. ***
This episode was sponsored by Bullmoose Soft Goods and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount codes.
LINKS:
Tom Babin of Shifter says Edmonton is “the most exciting bike city in North America.”
Learn more about Edmonton’s former mayor, Don Iveson and City Councillor Michael Janz.
Check out The Winter Cycling Federation and listen to Sarah’s dispatch from the 2020 Winter Cycling Congress in Finland.
Read all about the Edmonton Bike Plan.
Learn more about “Oil Country Urbanism” from Oh The Urbanity! and check out About Here on YouTube.
Lorne Gunter of the Edmonton Sun thinks charging drivers to park is a “war on cars.”
Buy toques, t-shirts, stickers and more in The War on Cars merch store. Save 10% with code BIKEMONTH.
Find us on Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!
This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Doug Gordon and Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear.
TheWarOnCars.org
 

The United States has built a transportation system centered around automobiles. But one-third of the nation’s population can’t drive, whether because of disability, age, financial hardship, immigration status, or any of a host of other factors. Those tens of millions of people are often invisible to planners and elected officials, and that’s why Anna Letitia Zivarts, herself a low-vision nondriver and a longtime activist for better transportation choices, has written a new book titled When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press). We talked with Anna about how, by designing our transportation future for those who can’t or don’t feel comfortable driving, we could build a system that works better for everyone and that would be more equitable, safer, and more environmentally sustainable.
*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and stickers. ***
This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount code.
LINKS:
Buy Anna Zivarts’s book, When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency, at The War On Cars Bookshop store or from your local bookseller.
You can follow Anna on X.
Buy t-shirts, stickers, hats and more in The War on Cars merch store. It's Bike Month so save 10% with code BIKEMONTH.
Find us on Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!
This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. 
TheWarOnCars.org

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***
We were getting ready to record our "Cybertrash" episode with Ed Niedermeyer last month when Ed happened to bring to our attention to this "deeply weird" ten minute-long extended car ad. It's a promotional video for Dodge's new, "Next-Gen Charger," the electric-powered version of the very same "muscle cars" that Doug confronted at the New York International Auto Show in Episode 85 and Aaron rode along with back in Episodes 92 and 96.
The move from gas-guzzling, window-rattling, V8 engines to electric motors has clearly plunged Dodge into an identity crisis. They spent decades building their brand on obnoxiously loud and dangerously sociopathic gas guzzlers. How will they ever convince their loutish loyal customers to switch over to (supposedly) clean, quiet, big government-mandated electric cars?
In this video we get an answer to that question. Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis is going to try to sell his muscle e-cars with rightwing dog whistles and a Make Dodge Great Again pitch. But he barely even sounds like he has convinced himself. A lot like Elon Musk's Cybertruck marketing, the Dodge promo video is simultaneously super weird and extremely revealing about what American car culture is really all about.
We had some extra time with Ed in the studio so we had to talk about it with him. And we put that together for as a Patreon bonus. If you aren't yet a Patreon subscriber of The War on Cars, maybe now is the time! Subscribe for $3, $5, or $10 per month. We’ll send you stickers and you’ll have access to ad-free episodes and bonus conversations like this one. We really appreciate the support. We couldn’t produce the podcast without you.