Afleveringen
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The World Cup - David & Wes mark the start of the World Cup by talking about the transportation culture shock many international visitors may experience in the United States. From stadium access to transit service to the everyday assumptions baked into how we move people around big events, they discuss why hosting a global event can expose the gaps in our transportation system. It’s a conversation about what happens when the world arrives expecting world-class mobility and instead encounters the very American mix of cars, parking, costs, confusion, and workarounds.
Other topics: 🔹 Stadiums that fit well into the urban fabric🔹 School buses stopping at railroad crossings & when safety rituals stop making sense🔹 And we answer some mailbag questions such as how to talk about car-centric systems without losing people
Subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation!
Additional resources:No Train, No Stop? FMCSA Considers Rule Change for School Buses
Why Did Cars Get So Hard to See Out Of? (David's article in Bloomberg)
Is Finland's new car-free bridge the longest of its kind in the world?
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Gas Tax Holiday - David & Wes take on gas tax holidays and why cutting a few cents from the price of gas is usually better politics than transportation policy. The federal gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, and suspending it would barely make a dent in a fill-up while weakening a transportation funding system that is already running on fumes. They talk through who actually benefits, whether the savings ever reach drivers, and why a real price-stabilization policy would have to move both ways, cutting the tax when prices spike and raising it when prices fall.
Other topics: 🔹 Singapore’s congestion pricing history & some transportation details that caught David’s eye🔹 Fargo’s downtown parking rules can make “free” parking annoying (at least according to Wes)🔹 David’s shirt!
Subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation!
Additional resources:How did Singapore restrict cars on its island? | With Paul Barter (Urban Mobility Explained)
Trump Proposes Suspending Federal Gas Tax Until Prices Fall (The New York Times)
Labor cuts fuel excise for three months, saving Australians 26c a litre on petrol and diesel (The Guardian)
Governor says Indiana may have ‘flexibility’ to extend gas tax suspension again (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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The Car Industry - David & Wes drive straight into the changing car industry and what today’s vehicles reveal about identity, status, and the future of transportation. From cheap Chinese EVs showing up near the U.S. border to the pressure they could place on Detroit, they explore whether companies like BYD and Geely could bring back the affordable car in America and why U.S. automakers may struggle to compete. It’s also a conversation about how transportation has become deeply tied to culture and identity in the United States, why so many people buy vehicles they barely use for their intended purpose, and what all of that could mean for the future adoption of autonomous vehicles.
Other topics: 🔹 Our favorite “buy low” city in America 🔹 Cheap Chinese EVs & whether Detroit can keep them out 🔹 Pickup trucks & the role of identity in vehicle choice 🔹 Rivian’s e-bike spinout
Subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation!
Additional resources: The U.S. Wants to Ban China’s High-Tech Cars, but They’re Already Here in El Paso (Wall Street Journal)
Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World by Eduardo Galeano
You Don’t Need A Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume (The Drive)
This Rivian spinoff is reinventing e-bikes in California with screens, software and swappable seats (LA Times)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Freedom to Drive - In this very special episode of Look Both Ways recorded in front of a live audience on a rooftop in Denver, Jill Locantore of the Denver Streets Partnership joins David & Wes to dig into the Trump Administration’s “Freedom to Drive” initiative and what it says about how we think about congestion, mobility, and who the transportation system is really for. They contrast that national framing with a local story, Denver’s successful “Denver Deserves Sidewalks” campaign, which shifted responsibility for sidewalks from property owners to the city. It’s a conversation about competing visions of freedom, what it actually takes to build better cities, and how policy choices shape everyday experience on our streets.
Thanks to everyone that came out for a really fun event!
Other topics:
🔹 The surprising U.S. city where we could see ourselves living🔹 We also take some questions from the audience
Subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Additional resources: The Freedom to Drive Initiative
David’s articles about sidewalks:Who Should Pay to Fix the Sidewalk?
The High Cost of Bad Sidewalks
Some of Wes’ research on sidewalks:Sidewalk Static Obstructions and Their Impact on Clear Width
Disparate Approaches to Maintaining Roads and Sidewalks: An Interview Study of 16 US Cities
An Evaluation of Sidewalk Availability and Width: Analyzing Municipal Policy and Disparities
Where the Sidewalks End: Evaluating Pedestrian Infrastructure and Equality
Evaluating Sidewalk Infrastructure & Prioritizing Investment
And a couple of Wes' sidewalk articles:Bad Sidewalks? City says it’s a YOU problem
Denver’s Sidewalks Need a lot of Help: Where Do We Start?
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Driver Assistance – David & Wes dig into driver assistance systems and the question of whether they’re actually making our roads safer. Following a recent NTSB hearing, they explore both the promise and the problems, from real potential safety benefits to the very real ways these systems can encourage overtrust. They talk through how “hands-off” can become “mind-off,” why supervising automation is harder than it sounds, and where responsibility really lies when things go wrong.
Other topics:
🔹 The big U.S. city we DON’T want to live in🔹 The Apple TV show Shrinking & the collateral damage of fatal crashes🔹 We then open up the mailbag to answer some listener questions
Subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
If you happen to be in Denver on April 21st, come out and see us! Look Both Ways LIVE Podcast Recording + Fundraiser for the Denver Streets Partnership
David speaking earlier that same day at The Road Ahead 2026
Additional resources: Systems that let drivers take their hands off the wheel don’t improve safety, NTSB head says
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Pedestrian Deaths – David & Wes dig into a surprising shift in pedestrian safety and ask a harder question: are streets actually getting safer, or are we just seeing a temporary drop in risk? After years of rising fatalities, recent numbers suggest a modest improvement, but the pattern is anything but consistent. They explore whether this reflects real progress from design changes and enforcement, shifting travel behavior, or simply volatility in a system that still produces predictable danger. It’s a conversation about what it would actually look like if we knew how to make streets safer, and why the data do not quite tell that story yet.
Other topics: 🔹 The Secretary of Transportation’s road trip reality show 🔹 Gas prices & the resiliency value of transit 🔹 Should we be subsidizing ridehail commutes?
Check out our new website!
And subscribe for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Additional resources: GHSA’s Report on Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2025 Preliminary Data (January-June)
Wes Marshall & Alejandro Henao. "The shock heard round the suburbs: Assessing the vulnerability, resilience, and transportation affordability of higher fuel price scenarios." Transportation Research Record (2015).
Rachael Bronson & Wes Marshall. "Alternative and adaptive transportation: What household factors support recovery from a drastic increase in gas price?." International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology (2014).
Lyft brings pre-tax commuter benefits deal to 14 more cities
Bruce Schaller. "Can sharing a ride make for less traffic? Evidence from Uber and Lyft and implications for cities." Transport Policy (2021).
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
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Gas Prices – David & Wes dig into the upside of high gas prices and why the story is more nuanced than it often seems. While rising costs at the pump can create real challenges, they also explore how higher prices can make other modes more attractive, reinforce location efficiency, and shift how people think about transportation more broadly. It’s a conversation about how gas prices shape behavior, influence our transportation system, and what gets lost when we only talk about them as a political problem.
Other topics: 🔹 Our most harrowing driving experiences🔹 How we mismeasure road safety🔹 Indy cars on real Washington, DC streets🔹 St. Patrick’s Day Rail Drinks
Additional resources:
Check out Chapter 23 (The Mirage of More Mileage) in Wes' Book:
& David's Recent Article: The US Is Counting Traffic Deaths Wrong
International Transport Forum Road Safety Annual Report 2025
‘Freedom revs’: Trump administration, DC mayor unveil details of Washington IndyCar race
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Mailbag! – David & Wes take listener questions on any and all things transportation. Before doing so, they talk about why David is at the Northwestern Transportation Library. The answer? He’s writing a book about congestion pricing called The Price of Traffic.
Other topics include: 🔹 Sovereignty Implications of Cars🔹 Bentley’s Law 🔹 Headlights 🔹 Insurance Companies Subsidizing Rural AVs 🔹 Our Favorite Intersections 🔹 Does Traffic Congestion Help or Hurt Safety? 🔹 BRT vs Subway 🔹 Value Capture Under- or Overused 🔹 Murder She Wrote (yup)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Florida Men – David & Wes venture down to Fort Lauderdale for the 2026 Safe Roads Summit. After their respective talks, they jump on stage to record a live podcast episode with Broward MPO Executive Director, Greg Stuart.
Topics include: 🔹 The Brightline Train Destroying a Delivery Robot🔹 The Long History of Unsafe Streets in Florida🔹 Managed Lanes Moving from Nonstarter to Normal
Additional resources:
Delivery robot demolished by train in South Florida
Dangerous By Design Report by Smart Growth America
Find out more about Greg Stuart
And the Safe Roads Summit
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Rural AVs – David & Wes take a deep dive into the future of rural transportation and why mobility challenges outside our cities deserve far more attention. From David’s experience trying to get around West Virginia to Wes’ take on “rural urbanism” and the awesomeness of some rural Main Streets, they explore what rural villages get right, where and why rural areas struggle, and how autonomous vehicles might help the cause even more so than in urban areas.
Other topics:
🔹 Iowa’s Anti-Bike Bill 🔹 Rural Transportation 🔹 The 2026 Safe Roads Summit
Additional resources:'The most anti-biking bill in history' — Iowa’s near-total bike ban proposal is bizarre and alarming
New Jersey Passes Most Restrictive E-Bike Law in the U.S.
Some Florida lawmakers look to strengthen e-bike laws
Disturbing Utah ‘Bikelash’ Bill Takes Aim at Salt Lake City Traffic Calming
David’s related articles: AV companies are ignoring rural America. That's a shame.
The Town That Took Downtown Renewal to the Next Level
Wes’ related research: Assessing urban/rural road safety disparities in the US
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Parking Meters – David & Wes unpack the recent multi-billion-dollar resale of Chicago’s parking meter lease and why it matters. They explain the contract, including the compensation clause, and how it continues to hamstring Chicago’s ability to improve transportation. They also explore the less-discussed reality that some good has come from the deal such as a city that actually charges market rates for curbside parking. Then, borrowing a lesson from Taylor Swift, they explore how Chicago could someday afford to buy back their meters.
Other topics: 🔹 Amtrak quiet cars… and maybe some party cars?🔹 The future of useful transit🔹 Trump’s love for mini-cars (he may be right)
Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Additional resources:Chicago parking meter deal: City's meters sold to another private company, Mayor Johnson says
Henry Grabar’s Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
RTD’s CEO says charging for parking, focusing on events could help transit recover
And David’s Mini-Car Stories...Tiny Cars, Big Opportunity
What Do US Vehicle Regulators Have Against Tiny Cars?
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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AV Safety – David & Wes explain why an online kerfuffle about autonomous vehicle safety unexpectedly put David himself in the spotlight. They unpack why autonomous vehicle debates so often generate more noise than insight, how narratives take on a life of their own, and what cities should be paying attention to right now. Listeners will come away with a clear sense of where autonomous vehicles truly stand and why context, logic, and governance matter more than bold promises.
Other topics:🔹 The quick start to the Mamdani era in NYC 🔹 Listener questions & what mode of transportation would win Survivor 🔹 A rehash of our first ever in-person Rail Drinks in DC
Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Additional resources:Officials showed off a robo-bus in D.C. It got hit by a Tesla driver
NCHRP Project 17-97: “Strategies to Improve Pedestrian Safety at Night”
David’s Original Stories… Bloomberg: We Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers
Financial Times: Europe doesn’t need driverless cars
And the back-and-forth... Why David Zipper is Wrong
Why David Zipper is Right (by Peter Norton)
NYC doing things… Mamdani Takes the Bite Out of ‘the Bump,’ Paving Over Hated Road Hazard
Mayor Mamdani Announces City to Complete Redesign on McGuinness Boulevard
Fast Buses: Mamdani Administration Moves Forward With Stalled Madison Avenue Bus Lane Project
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Robotaxi Meltdown – David & Wes discuss how robotaxis affect urban resilience after a blackout brought mayhem to San Francisco’s streets. As robotaxis expand in cities across the United States and Europe, how will they react to emergencies and unforeseen events? If autonomous vehicles freeze en masse, transportation networks could grind to a halt.
Other topics:🔹 The quiet power of city sidewalks🔹 Best ways to keep biking in the winter 🔹 The uncertain future of transportation & urban planning research under Trump
Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Additional resources:
Info about the Waymo meltdown during the San Francisco blackout
David’s recent Bloomberg article questioning whether AVs really are safer than humans
Wes' paper with Peyton Gibson on the disparate approaches cities take to maintaining roads and sidewalks
Wes' paper with Nick Coppola about municipal policy impacts sidewalk availability & width
Wes' paper with Nick Coppola about how much static obstructions affect the clear width of sidewalks
David’s 2025 article in Bloomberg about Denver’s innovative sidewalk program
Crossroads, the “TRB alternative” taking place in DC Jan 15
David’s 2025 article about transportation research censorship under Trump
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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End of Year Extravaganza – David & Wes toss the usual format aside to look back at the transportation stories that defined 2025. From policies and headlines that made them hopeful to moments that were equal parts absurd and infuriating, they reflect on what the past year revealed about the state of streets, transit, and transportation more broadly. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of the trends that mattered, the narratives that fell apart, and the questions that still haven’t been answered.
The episode wraps with a look ahead to 2026, including what we will be watching closely in the coming year and why some unresolved fights are likely to resurface. And yes, we still close things out with a few rail drinks.
Stay tuned for biweekly conversations about all things transportation.
Some additional resources:David’s biggest laugh of the year (pedestrians told to keep to the left in Melbourne)
David’s favorite dress from Toronto’s 2025 bike wars
David’s most promising innovation: DADSS
David’s favorite article of the year, about vehicle blind zones changing over time
David’s most thought-provoking book: More and More and More by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Waymo in Cities – David & Wes explore why cities are beginning to push back on Waymo and other robotaxi companies, and what that resistance reveals about local control, safety, and trust in emerging technologies. Using Boston’s response as a case study, they dig into the tensions between innovation narratives and municipal responsibility. Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of why cities are asserting themselves now, what’s at stake in these confrontations, and how regulation shapes the future of automated mobility.
Today, we're also talking about:🔹 Memorable road trips & how they shaped our thinking about transportation, freedom, & access🔹 The purported death of a major eBike player & what that signals about the micromobility market🔹 New words for access & why the language we use matters for how transportation problems get framed
Then, we take listener questions and partake in some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about transportation.
Some additional resources: ‘Attack on our way of life’: Debate around autonomous vehicles heats up in Boston
The rise and fall of Rad Power Bikes: From breakout success to the brink of shutdown
CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Defunding Transit – David & Wes examine the growing efforts to defund transit through mechanisms like the Highway Trust Fund. What happens when transit funding is threatened and slowly hollowed out? Rather than treating these moves as abstract budget debates, they focus on the real-world consequences for reliability, coverage, and who gets left behind.
Today, we also talk about:🔹 How we learn about transportation in a new city & what those first impressions reveal🔹 What we mean when we say access & why the word often obscures more than it explains🔹 Transportation trends in Europe that are not going the way we’d hope
Then, some listener questions and rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation!
Some additional resources: Elements of Access: Transport Planning for Engineers, Transport Engineering for Planners (2017) by David Levinson, Wes Marshall, & Kay Axhausen
Politico Article: Trump administration proposals seek to eliminate transit funding
Politico Article: Graves pans DOT proposal axing mass transit account
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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New York City – David & Wes break down Mamdani's New York City’s new transportation agenda and & the priorities it elevates and avoids. We examine how political vision, implementation, and street-level realities align or clash... and what all this signals about where cities may be headed next. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of what’s genuinely new in the agenda, what feels recycled, and why meaningful change often arrives later than promised.
Today, we also talk about:🔹 Where we went, what we saw, & how seeing cities up close shapes our transportation thinking 🔹 Back to the Future & how flying cars seem long overdue, but do we even want Marty McFly's future?
Then we dive into the mailbag & have some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation!
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Traffic Noise – David & Wes dig into traffic noise as an overlooked public health problem and a quiet but pervasive form of harm in cities. Moving beyond annoyance, we explore how constant exposure to noise affects health, equity, and quality of life, and why it remains largely invisible in transportation decision-making. Listeners will come away with a better understanding of why noise matters, how it reflects deeper design choices, and what acknowledging this externality would change about how streets and cities are planned.
Today, we also talk about:🔹 Trick-or-Treating & how it's the more dangerous day of the year for kids🔹 A proliferation of anti-car books & what this moment says about shifting public attitudes🔹 The trials & tribulations of a young engineer trying to do better & Wes' advice for how to handle the ethical tensions
Then, we have some rail drinks...stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation!
Here is David's article on the Anti-Car Books:www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-10/car-brain-is-making-the-us-unhealthy-and-dangerous-evs-won-t-fix-it
And "The Traffic Noise Externality: Costs, Incidence and Policy Implications" paper by Enrico Moretti & Harrison Wheeler: www.nber.org/papers/w34298
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Transit Funding – David & Wes dive into the growing threats to U.S. transit funding and why they matter far beyond agency balance sheets. By looking at how federal decisions shape what cities can build and operate, they unpack why transit in the United States costs so much, delivers so little, and remains perpetually vulnerable to political whims. Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of how funding structures quietly undermine reliability, access, and public trust in transit systems.
Today, we also talk about:🔹 Getting our driver’s licenses 🔹 An Amish paradise that includes eBikes & why technology adoption doesn’t follow cultural stereotypes🔹Why transit vehicles cost so much more in the U.S. & what that means for service and expansion
At the end, we have some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation.
Here is David's article (the first of its kind) on Why US Cities Pay Too Much for Buses:www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-26/us-cities-are-paying-too-much-for-new-transit-buses
And some other resources that might help your cause:- www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-cta-funding-safety/- www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/nyregion/trump-nyc-subway-gateway-infrastructure-funding.html- www.brookings.edu/articles/paying-less-for-public-transit-buses/
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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Robotaxis – David & Wes look ahead to the arrival of robotaxis and what cities should be doing (or not doing) to prepare. Rather than asking whether autonomous vehicles will “work,” they focus on the decisions cities actually control. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of why waiting for technology to mature is not a plan, and how today’s choices could lock in decades of consequences for safety, access, and street life.
Today, we also talk about:🔹 How we go about finding a neighborhood to live in & what that reveals about transportation 🔹 Whatever happened to MaaS & why integrated mobility never delivered on its promises🔹 Evolving bike lanes, bikelash, & John Forester & why old arguments keep resurfacing in new forms
And then some rail drinks... stay tuned for bi-weekly conversations about all things transportation!
If you are interested, here is David's new article on Cities & Self-Driving Cars:www.vox.com/future-perfect/461393/self-driving-cars-cities-congestion-avs-parking
and his old one on MaaS:www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/the-struggle-to-make-mobility-as-a-service-make-money
Here is Wes' paper on how cities with more protected & separated bike lanes are safer for everyone:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301488
(if you don't like academic papers, this video explains our results: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwYeNz1jCkM)
as well as the back-and-forth...www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140519305481www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140519306310
Music by Charlie Van Stee(courtesy of bensound)
Email us at [email protected] find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org
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