Doug Gordon

Last month the three hosts told their origin stories, or how they first became aware of the problems associated with cars and automobile dependency. Our stories included everything from lessons learned during early driving lessons to our individual experiences living in car-dependent places. The response to that episode was so great that we put out the call to our Patreon supporters to tell us their origin stories. We heard from people from all over the world — including a few friends and former guests of the podcast — who all wanted to share how they were radicalized into The War on Cars.

***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.***

Since 1964, the Hess Corporation has released a toy truck for the holiday season, an annual tradition that’s highly anticipated by children and collectors alike. Models have included gas tankers, fire trucks, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and even a Space Shuttle, almost all in the fossil fuel company’s iconic green-and-white color scheme.  But this year, perhaps reflecting the times, the Hess Corporation has released a Police Truck and Cruiser, “a specialized law enforcement response team that will inspire and unleash the inner hero in everyone.” We’re not sure what kind of trouble is brewing in Santa’s workshop, but the truck looks like what would arrive in response to a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, the cruiser, the smaller truck-within-the-truck, is an “armored-response vehicle” that gives off big Cybertruck vibes… if the Cybertruck included a battering ram and could actually work off-road.

The hosts discuss this year’s Hess Truck and what it says about the state of the world. Plus, since we’re not the target audience for this toy or its marketing, we hear a kid’s take on what makes the Hess truck fun and cool.

***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.***

Hess Truck 2023 Ad. (YouTube)

Learn more about the Hess Truck. (Hess)

The Hess Truck’s Back And It’s Worse Than Ever. “They turned by sweet boy into a tool of state violence.” (Steve Da Silva, Jalopnik.)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared it’s time to end what he calls “the war on motorists.” First, the Conservative Party leader announced he was delaying the UK’s commitment to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars. He followed that with what he called his “plan for motorists,” which would severely restrict local efforts to implement low-traffic neighborhoods, 20 mph speed limits, bus-only lanes, and other policies intended to benefit people walking, cycling, and taking transit. Finally, he scrapped a major portion of HS2, a high-speed rail line linking some of the UK’s biggest cities. 

So… what the hell is happening in the UK? With similar setbacks in Berlin, Madrid, New York and elsewhere, is this part of a broader global backsliding? Are we losing the The War on Cars or is the prime minister just grasping at culture-war straws? The Guardian’s Peter Walker returns to the podcast to help us figure it all out.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

***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 is produced with support from Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest Cleverhood discount code.

LINKS:

“Sunak ‘backs drivers,’ announces scaling back of HS2, and delays the UK’s ban on gas-powered vehicles by five years. (Peter Walker & colleagues, The Guardian)

Rishi Sunak says he’s “slamming the brakes on the war on motorists.” (The Sun)

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In this bonus episode just for Patreon supporters of The War on Cars, we do a quick news roundup before getting to the thing that matters most: WINNING.

Last month we reached out to our liteners and asked them to send us their wins, from policy and infrastructure victories to cultural changes they helped usher in, even at just the individual level. Let’s face it: it’s a tough world out there so celebrating victories big and small is really important. Thanks to all of you, we are making progress in The War on Cars one parking space at a time.

***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.***

If you’ve never heard of a bike bus—or a bicibús, as it’s known in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona—it’s a beautifully simple idea. Kids and parents ride their bikes to school along a pre-planned route, picking up classmates along the way, just the way a school bus would. Except because it’s bikes, it’s way, way more fun. Sarah and Doug rode along with bike buses in Barcelona and suburban Montclair, New Jersey, to see how it works, and we talked with organizer Sam Balto in Portland, Oregon, to find out why kids who ride with bike buses get to school feeling happy and energized.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

***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 is produced with support from Radpower Bikes and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest Cleverhood discount code.

LINKS:

See what a “Kidical Mass” ride looks like in Barcelona.

This half-hour documentary takes a deeper look at the bike bus and Kidical Mass movements in Barcelona (with English subtitles; costs €1 to rent).

Sam Balto’s Portland bike bus is getting national attention. You can follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and that other platform.

Learn more about the Montclair Bike Bus.

Buy official War on Cars merch at our store. 

Find us on Mastodon, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and whatever godforsaken new social media platform pops up next. 

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. 

TheWarOnCars.org

In her new book, Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, Veronica O. Davis — the Director of Transportation and Drainage Operations for the city of Houston, Texas — takes a hard look at the ways in which planning a world for cars has harmed communities and how that affects anyone working to change things today. How do you repair a system that continues to divide communities? In a world where “equity” can sometimes just be a buzzword, what does equity truly look like if we can achieve it?

Davis tells her own “transportation story,” asks readers to think about their own, and urges transportation professionals to consider past injustices and do the hard work that results in more than an idea and a catchphrase. She also has a lot of advice for how to approach community engagement and the different types of “stakeholders” who can make or break a street improvement project.

***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 is produced with support from Radpower Bikes and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest Cleverhood discount code.

LINKS:

Buy Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, and books by other guests of The War on Cars at our official page on Bookshop.org.

Learn more about Veronica O. Davis.

Pick up some official podcast merch at our store.

Follow and review The War on Cars on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!

TheWarOnCars.org

The rising problem of mopeds and motorcycles in New York City bike lanes is impossible to ignore but the solutions are anything but simple.

Recently, journalist and friend of the podcast Aaron Gordon wrote an essay for his newsletter titled “Biking in New York City Has Gotten Worse,” in which he laments the change that’s happened in recent years of larger and faster motorized vehicles using the city’s bike lanes. We’re not talking pedal-assist e-bikes and cargo bikes or even the Arrow e-bikes that have long been preferred by New York’s delivery workers. We’re talking full-on mopeds and motorcycles—electric and gas-powered alike—many of which are unlicensed and, even if they did have the proper registration, generally do not belong in bike lanes.

In this coversation, we talk about how and why this problem has grown, largely due to the major food-delivery app companies which wash their hands of any responsibility for providing their workers, all of whom are categorized not as employees but as contractors, with fair wages, benefits, and even street-legal vehicles.

Can government force the app companies to step up? What should people who advocate for safe streets and bike infrastructure do? It’s complicated.

***This is a preview of a Patreon bonus episode. To hear the full episode and for complete access to all our exclusive bonus content become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***

***This is a bonus episode that was previously only available to Patreon supporters of The War on Cars. If you want to hear more bonus episodes like this, please enlist today! We’ll taking a very short summer break and will be back with a new episode next week.***

Have you ever wondered what the reporters who cover the auto industry think about oversized SUVs and pickups and whether the fever for these gas-guzzling, space-hogging, planet-heating and people-killing monstrosities will ever break? Bob Sorokanich has some opinions.

Bob Sorokanich was the Editor-In-Chief of Jalopnik the news site about cars, the auto industry and transportation in general. He was also the longstanding Deputy Editor of Road & Track, one of the most historic and important auto magazines in the U.S., if not the world.

In this expansive conversation, Bob talks about the changing face of automotive journalism and what it’s like being a city resident, cyclist and public transit rider who also loves cars. We heard about what he drives, his thoughts on what it will take to win the war on cars, and why even the most died-in-the-wool car enthusiasts hate the kind of driving they typically experience today.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

LINKS:

According to Bob: Public Transit Is a Car Enthusiast’s Best Friend

Doug’s piece for Jalopnik: What I Mean When I Say ‘Ban Cars’

Pick up official podcast merch at The War on Cars store.

Check out our list of recommended books at Bookshop.org.

TheWarOnCars.org

This special episode of The War on Cars was recorded live before a sold-out audience at Caveat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and was styled after a community board meeting… except instead of people yelling at each other about parking spaces, bike lanes and neighborhood character, a fantastic time was had by all.

***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.***