The Squeaky Wheel Podcast

Irene McAleese and Phil Latz
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The Squeaky Wheel Podcast is here to inform and inspire through engaging conversations with changemakers shaping the future of active travel and urban mobility. Your hosts, Phil Latz and Irene McAleese, speak with leaders across business, government, academia, and advocacy, sharing insights and ideas that drive real-world impact. Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: squeakywheelpodcast.com Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social

  1. May 13

    New European Cycling Industries CEO Gets Proactive on Advocacy

    New European Cycling Industries CEO Gets Proactive on Advocacy Our guest this month is Paul Walsh. Paul is originally from Ireland, has lived in Brussels for over 20 years and brings more than 12 years of experience working in Brussels-based industry associations. He holds a master's degree in Association Management and has worked across a wide range of sectors, including aviation, research and innovation, tourism, and medical devices. Exactly one year prior to our conversation, Paul took on the CEO role of Cycling Industries Europe, which since then has merged with Europe’s oldest industry group, CONEBI, to form European Cycling Industries (ECI). Paul was appointed CEO of the new group and has bold ambitions for this new, larger, united organisation. Multiple times throughout our conversation, Paul mentions the European Cyclist Federation (ECF) which is an advocacy group that Paul’s industry association not only works closely with, but also donates significant funds towards. We previously interviewed Jill Warren the former CEO of the ECF and if you’re interested in in learning more about that organisation you can find that interview here. Cycling faces an opportunity for increased government support and growth thanks to the current “oil crisis” In our conversation Paul refers to the 10 point plan to help reduce oil dependency, recently released by the ECF which Paul’s organisation and others have endorsed. Here is the ECF Manifesto He also outlined ECI’s Strategic Priorities: To create regulatory certainty for e-bikes. To do a better job on data, including bicycle sales. Infrastructure for cycling. Leasing – favourable for bicycle purchases. Reproducing existing successful German and Belgium schemes Europe-wide. Developing a Bicycle Industry Strategy that is adopted by the European Commission. We asked Paul about any recent increases in bike sales in Europe do to the current “oil crisis”. He said it was too early to have data about this. But here is a chart of what happened to bicycle sales in the USA as a result of the “Arab Oil Embargo” of the early 1970’s. It will be interesting to see what happens to bicycle demand over the coming months. Paul described a new “I cycle to work” campaign that the ECI will be launching soon. You’ll be able to see it via their website here: European Cycling Industries What’s Up? Sara mentions the new Oxford St protected cycleway, which is newly opened on a six lane arterial road into the heart of Sydney’s city centre, that’s getting thousands of rides per day. Sara also mentions the huge growth in share bike ridership. Phil mentions Lime and thought that they have exceeded US$1 billion in annual revenue. This may be true now due to their massive recent growth, but the latest published data shows US$646 million revenue for calendar year 2024. In October 2025 Lime announced that they had seen 1 billion total rides since their launch in 2017. Clarification Towards the start of our conversation with Paul, Sara says that there are more bicycle sales than car sales in Australia. That’s only partly correct… although it was true in the decade prior to covid and during the two covid years, since then car sales have slightly exceeded bicycle sales, even when combining analogue and e-bike sales. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    43 min

  2. Apr 15

    Why It’s Time for 30 Now!

    Why It’s Time for 30 Now! Jullietta Jung and Jennifer Kent are launching a new campaign in Australia that is equally relevant around the world. 30Now will be calling for the speed limit on all local streets to be lowered to 30 kilometres per hour (20 miles per hour). Jennifer Kent is Associate Professor, Urbanism at the University of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. She’s also Honorary Associate Professor, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS). Her research interests are at the intersections between urban planning, transport and human health. Jullietta Jung has been President of the Australia-wide grass roots group Better Streets since November 2025. Prior to that she was a Program Manager at the Global Designing Streets Initiative and has worked in various active transport roles in the New South Wales state government. Jullietta founded Sydney Night Rides in 2015 as a safe way for people, particularly women to ride together at night. During our conversation, Jennifer mentions the Global Road Safety Partnership. You can find out more about it here. You can find out more about Better Streets, the organisation that Jullietta leads, here. At the time of producing this podcast, the 30Now website was not yet live, but there is a Position Paper about the topic here. During our conversation we refer to an episode that we previously recorded with Lee Waters, who was the driving force behind the country of Wales adopting 20 mile per hour speed limits nationwide. You can listen to that podcast here. There have been several reports that document the reduction in road deaths and serious injuries in Wales since the speed limit was reduced. This report is from the Welsh Government, who also produced this slightly more summarised report. This report by the BBC says there have been 900 fewer injuries and few Councils have applied for higher speed limits but that the change is still not universally popular. Meanwhile, Jullietta talked about the Safe Active Streets program in Perth, Western Australia. Jullietta also talked about evidence that many in the community want slower speed limits. In particular home owners have put stickers on their rubbish bins to ask motorists to slow down.   What’s Up? In our “What’s Up” section at the end of each podcast we share what we’ve been doing or about to do. This episode was recorded with guest co-host Sara Stace. Sara is Director of Cities at Vivendi Consulting Sara is part of a team embarking on a three year project to look at how cycling infrastructure can be delivered more effectively. They’re running a one hour online workshop with the Liveable Cities Collective on 30th April 2026. You can find out more about the Liveable Cities Collective here or register for the “Let’s Accelerate Cycleway Delivery!” workshop via Humanitix here. Phil talked about his recent visit to Taipei, Taiwan including both good and bad aspects of their transport system in this incredibly densely populated city of about seven million people across its greater urban area. Here as some of his photos from his visit in late March 2026: This is a “suburban” area of Taipei, not the city centre. Taipei’s U-Bike system is very heavily used day and night. The orange bike in the foreground is their new e-bike version which can be rented at slightly higher cost than the super-cheap to rent yellow analogue bikes. This is a roadside Gogoro battery swapping station for motor scooter riders. There are over 12,500 of these stations across Taiwan. This is one of two adjacent expo buildings that host the annual Taipei Cycle show. The driverless above ground metro line in the foreground is actually one of the oldest lines in Taipei. This venue is also served by a second, larger, faster metro line with a station underground. It’s common to see one, two or three young children being transported on motor scooters in Taipei. These scooters outnumber cars. The white scooter in the background is an electric Gogoro model, but most scooters are still noisy petrol models like the one in foreground. Parking fines are cheap in Taipei, so people with money often park in intersections or other illegal places, like this unattended Porsche. As always, we’d love to hear from you with guest suggestions or any other feedback. Please use the Contact Us page on this website. Until next month, keep squeaking! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    57 min

  3. Mar 18

    How Skye Duncan is Globally Multiplying Lessons She Learned in NYC.

    Our guest this month is Skye Duncan, a brilliant communicator who is Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI). This innovative and impactful organisation is primarily funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies with a worldwide team of over 45 expert staff. It has its roots in New York City, stemming from the era when Mike Bloomberg was mayor and oversaw huge advances in active transportation and liveable street design. Skye was “inside the tent” holding a key design role within the NYC administration for much of this time. After Bloomberg’s term in office ended, Skye moved to NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials) from which the GDCI was eventually spun off as a stand-alone entity. Throughout all three of these organisations, a common thread has been Skye working with Janette Sadik-Khan, who was NYC Transportation Commissioner and is now Board Chair at GDCI. Skye’s life has been full of adventure from day one, having been born in Papua New Guinea. This very poor developing South East Asian island nation would have only had a population of about 3 million at that time, of which a fraction of 1% at any time were “expats” from other countries and a much smaller subset again would have their children there. After being raised in New Zealand, graduating in architecture and winning a major design competition, Skye successfully applied for a Fulbright Scholarship. Sponsored by US government since 1946, only about 4,000 foreign students per year win Fullbright scholarships to attend some of the most prestigious USA universities. So the competition is intense and only about 20 New Zealanders are successful each year. After graduating with master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, Skye joined the NYC administration during the Mike Bloomberg mayoral era when dramatic changes were made, often using a “quick, light, cheap” strategy to prove their concept, such as most famously depicted here in Times Square. After Bloomberg finished his final term, Skye moved to NACTO, then to head up the Global Designing Cities Initiative that has published three major global guides: the Global Street Design Guide, the Designing Streets for Kids Guide and the Designing for Safe Speeds. In our interview, Skye gives unique perspectives on what we need to do to make our cities work better for everyone. As Skye’s presentation slide above so graphically illustrates, different members of our communities have widely varying needs from our city designs and transportation options. What’s Up? In our “What’s Up” section at the end of this podcast, Phil talks about riding the newly opened Iris Dixon Veloway, that includes this dramatic bright green curving bridge. Not surprisingly, it has been unofficially named “The Caterpillar”. As always, we’d love to hear from you with guest suggestions or any other feedback. Please use the Contact Us page on this website. Until next month, keep squeaking! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    45 min

  4. Feb 18

    Grant Ennis Explains the Dangers of Corporate Disinformation

    Welcome to season three of The Squeaky Wheel Podcast! We’re starting the year with an amazing guest who’s from San Francisco, USA, but lives in Paris, France and lectures for a university based in Melbourne, Australia! Grant also speaks five languages and has previously worked for international aid agencies in a wide range of countries around the world including Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Honduras, Kenya and Syria. Since 2020 Grant has been an adjunct Lecturer at Monash University. Grant’s teaching and research focuses on the political and commercial determinants of health, primarily exploring the political influence of the sugar, road, and fossil fuel lobbies. Grant has written the acclaimed book Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Undermines Our Health and the Environment. His work has been referenced in the Journal of Transport & Health, Traffic Safety Research, Alcohol Clinical & Experimental Research, the Australian, Michael West, the Australian Financial Review, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, among others. Grant’s scholarship has had international reach and has contributed to parliamentary discussions related to nutrition and transport in Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Dark PR includes details of “Nine devious frames” used by corporations and in particular their highly paid public relations consultants to effectively fight back against members of the public who are advocating for positive change, for example to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. In our conversation we deliberately don’t go into these in detail, because there has already been an excellent interview recorded with Grant, that does unpack each frame in order, one by one. It was done by The War on Cars, a podcast that we highly recommend and are Patreon supporters of. You can listen to that podcast episode here. In our conversation, Grant fires off many references to earlier research and reports. Here are the relevant links: F Nuance https://kieranhealy.org/files/papers/f**k-nuance.pdf Twitter and Tear Gas https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_online_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win If We Burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Burn Renationalisation of British Rail https://www.lemonde.fr/en/transport/article/2024/12/04/uk-set-to-nationalize-train-operators-from-may_6735167_216.html President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez https://latinolens.tonolatino.com/p/a-message-to-the-far-right-from-spain IMF Report on US$7 Trillion in Fossil Fuel Subsidies  https://www.imf.org/en/topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies Chartists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism Hands off our charities alliance https://unitingcare.org.au/submission/hands-off-our-charities-alliance-australian-charities-and-not-for-profits-commission-amendment-2021-measures-no-2-regulations-2021/ Sharon Beder - https://youtu.be/gAQKXmUnc4Y Alliance for a Paving Moratorium  / Jan Lundberg https://www.culturechange.org/apm_page.htm Reactionary Centrism https://www.volts.wtf/p/all-about-reactionary-centrism   What’s Up? Unfortunately Squeaky Wheel Podcast co-host Irene McAleese is stepping away for a little while to deal with some personal commitments. The show will carry on with just Phil Latz for the moment, which means a much shorter What’s Up section. Phil mentions World Bicycle Relief has just passed an amazing milestone of building and delivering over one million bicycles into the field. Here’s a great video that shows what this means to the one million recipients. Look out for our next episode, due out on the third Thursday of March. Until then, keep squeaking! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    45 min

  5. 12/17/2025

    Peter Norton Warns Don’t be Dazzled by the “Magic” of Automated Vehicles

    This month we’re very excited to be speaking with Associate Professor Peter Norton who is a historian at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Peter has authored two highly successful and thought-provoking books, “Fighting Traffic, The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City” and “Autonorama, The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.” Peter is a sought after keynote speaker who has given his unique perspective and insights on how we got to where we are today at many conferences around the world. As he reveals in our conversation, even Waymo, the multi-billion automated vehicle operator owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has had Peter share his perspectives about automated vehicles with them. During our conversation, we refer to this amazing video showing everyday life on Market Street, the main street in San Francisco in 1906. In addition to showing how very different street scapes and traffic looked at the dawn of the automobile era compared to today, it’s also poignant in that it was filmed just days before the vibrant city was largely destroyed by a devastating earthquake and subsequent fires. Later in our conversation we talk about “autonomous vehicles” that as Peter thoughtfully points out, are anything but autonomous and instead should be called “automated vehicles”, we refer to this safety report from Waymo. In our “What’s Up” section at the end of the episode, Irene refers to the new Kangaroo Point Bridge that, less than a year after opening has already had over three million wheeling and walking trips, averaging about 10,000 people per day, with zero cars. Here’s a link to the Brisbane City Council’s announcement of this milestone. And here some progress photos of construction that Squeaky Wheel Phil, (ever the active travel infrastructure nerd!) took each time he visited Brisbane, culminating in his first ride across the newly opened bridge. This is yet another great example of “Build it and they will come.” There certainly weren’t 10,000 people swimming across that stretch of the Brisbane River each day before it opened… We’ll be taking a Christmas break and wish all of our listeners a merry Christmas and happy new year! Look out for our first podcast of 2026 on Thursday 19th February and then on the third Thursday of each subsequent month. Until then, keep squeaking! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    58 min

  6. 11/19/2025

    Are we being killed by traffic engineers? Shocking revelations from Wes Marshall

    Our guest this month is Wes Marshall, Author of the thought provoking book, “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.” This book has certainly ruffled feathers amongst some elements of the traffic engineer “establishment.” So much so that some state DOT’s (Departments of Transport) in the USA have banned the book from their libraries. But that hasn’t stopped staff from those DOT’s creating unsanctioned discussion groups to study the book’s many revelations. Irene talked with Wes in Perth just after he’d given his keynote address to the 2025 Australian Road Safety Conference in late October. Wes Marshall, PhD, is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, where he holds a joint appointment in urban planning. He plays a pivotal role as director of the university of Colorado's Human-Centered Transportation program and their Transportation Research Center. Wes is a licensed Professional Engineer and focuses on transportation teaching and research dedicated to creating safer and more sustainable transportation systems. Wes, also has a podcast called Look Both Ways that he cohosts with David Zipper. During covid lockdown he wrote “Killed by a Traffic Engineer - Shattering the Delusion that Science Underpins the Transportation System” You can find out more about Wes and subscribe to his newsletter via his website. You can buy his book here. We’d like to give special thanks to the organisers of the Australasian Road Safety Conference, including Elissa Lulan, who arranged a quiet room for the interview and kindly allowed us to display our Squeaky Wheel Podcast banner at the conference.   What’s Up? One interesting story that we edited out of our “What’s Up?” segment for the sake of brevity, but you might like to look at, is this very demeaning to cyclists and tone deaf poster that Irene saw on the Transperth train that was taking her back to the airport at the end of the conference. Irene’s post about this literally went viral: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7387447368486420480/ Phil spoke about the new Sea Otter Australia cycling festival that he attended. This is the first annual edition of huge, long-running Sea Otter cycling festivals held each year in the USA and Europe. He also spoke about receiving and reading “Life After Cars”. If you haven’t yet heard about this excellent book, then please take a look. Irene attended a webinar sharing the results of the new 2025 National Walking and Cycling Participation Survey. She was then heading to Barcelona to speak at the Tomorrow Mobility World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Then to Hobart for the 2025 National Parks and Leisure Conference in Hobart, Tasmania before finishing her “conference blitz” at the ITS Australia Summit on the Gold Coast, Queensland. ITS stands for Intelligent Transport Systems. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    48 min

  7. 10/15/2025

    How Prue Oswin achieved better outcomes for safe children’s travel

    After graduating with degrees in Geography and Environmental Engineering, Prue Oswin spent eight years as a water engineer before switching to active transport in 2009.  Ever since then, Prue has been deeply involved in making her home region of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland a better place to walk and ride, especially for children.  Prue began her career working within local government, then for a traffic engineering company. Later Prue set up her own consultancy that she ran for almost a decade.  Recently she’s joined the Planning Institute of Australia as State Manager for Queensland and the Northern Territory.   Prue wrote this very widely read article about her work, particularly highlighting evidence-based active transport planning and save independent travel for children, that we refer to extensively in our conversation.  Two great quotes from Prue:  “We don’t build our bridges where people are swimming across the river. Where people are too frightened to go, we’re not going to get traffic volumes data that tells us that.”  “Having a road network without safe crossings is like having a Meccano set without the nuts!”  Here is a link to the website of Carloine Criado Perez, author of the book Invisible Women, that Prue refers to in this episode.  Prue refers to the Ride Score Program that has helped substantially increase the number of children riding to school.  Prue uses CompassIOT data. “Cheaper, faster, evidence-based.”  Prue talks about the ScootSchool program that she created for training young people about safe walking, riding and scooting.    What’s Up?  In our What’s Up Section, Irene spoke about the iMove grant that they’d just been awarded to conduct this important project.  She also mentioned that Ride Score, a project that our guest Prue Oswin has interacted with in Queensland, that is run by We Ride Australia, has just won an iMove grant to expand into Perth, Western Australia.  Irene gave a call to action for anyone wanting to report problems with their local infrastructure to use the See.Sense app and finally, she mentioned the See.Sense newsletter that is called Signals.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    41 min

  8. 09/17/2025

    National Transport Conference Special Edition Featuring Keynotes Lucy Saunders and Giles Perkins

    We recorded this month’s episode at the National Transport Conference, that is run each year by the Transport Professionals Association. Both the conference and association have just been rebranded and relaunched by the organisation formerly known as the AITPM. Both Irene and Phil headed to Adelaide for this year’s conference that ran from 3rd - 5th September. Phil attended as a guest of the TPA to record this podcast episode. We’d like to thank Kirsty Kelly and Erika Childs from the TPA, not just for their invitation but their wonderful hospitality at the conference. In this episode, you’ll hear from the first two of the three keynote speakers that opened the conference each day. We’re also very happy to report that the third keynote presenter, Skye Duncan who is Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative, is also happy to join us on the Squeaky Wheel, but because this is already an extra-long episode, we thought it would be best to speak with Skye at a later date. Our first guest, Lucy Saunders is a unique combination of public health specialist, urbanist and transport planner. She has created the Healthy Streets Approach, an evidence based- framework for decision making at every level. Lucy works with organisations across the world adapting her approach to each context. Lucy, who is based in the UK, has advised a wide range of major clients including the World Health Organisation and UK Government Departments for Transport and Health. She is a skilled and engaging presenter and teacher who has inspired and trained hundreds of practitioners, advocates and politicians around the world. To find out more about Healthy Streets where you can also download their free tools and other excellent resources, please visit their website. Giles Perkins, leads WSP’s Future Mobility team in the UK and has over 34 years’ experience in the futures, transportation planning, digital and intelligent transport sectors. He has worked in the public and private sectors as a senior client and director level consultant and has led major projects across all modes. Giles is a recognised expert in the field of Future Mobility / Transport and Zero Emission Mobility. He is a strategic thinker with an in-depth appreciation of the challenges facing all modes of transport resulting from disruptors, both within the transportation realm and wider socio-economic changes which influence it. Amongst many senior roles, Giles is a Board member of the National Centre for Accessible Transport in the UK. What’s Up Squeaky Wheel Podcast co-host Irene gave a presentation and took part in a panel discussion in her capacity as co-founder of See.sense. She’s seen here answering a question with fellow panel members from left to right: Marko Bogicevic from BDO (obscured), James Edwards from Arup, John Bennett from Arup, former Squeaky Wheel Podcast guest Kylie Nixon from Arup and Tim Veitch from Veitch Lister Consulting. It was lovely to catch up with Squeaky Wheel Podcast listener and longstanding advocate Peter Lumb in Adelaide. Amongst many activities, Peter was a co-founder and long time co-organiser of the Australian Walking and Cycling Conference. Next month Irene will be heading to Perth, WA for the 2025 Australasian Road Safety Conference. During the same week Phil will be heading to Batemans Bay, NSW for the first annual Sea Otter Australia that will be including a conference and trade expo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 25m
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About

The Squeaky Wheel Podcast is here to inform and inspire through engaging conversations with changemakers shaping the future of active travel and urban mobility. Your hosts, Phil Latz and Irene McAleese, speak with leaders across business, government, academia, and advocacy, sharing insights and ideas that drive real-world impact. Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: squeakywheelpodcast.com Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social

Information

  • Creator
    Irene McAleese and Phil Latz
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Irene McAleese and Phil Latz
  • Show Website
    The Squeaky Wheel Podcast

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