Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation.
But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians in the U.S. every year.
That’s why transit activists say we need to rethink the way we get around. Because learning to drive less isn’t just about safer streets and better quality of life — it’s also key to winning the race to net zero.
Featuring: Effie Kong, Jascha Franklin-Hodges, LaShea Johnson, Alex Hudson, Edwin Lindo, Thea Riofrancos.
Vision Zero and Complete Streets
Somerville was the first city in Massachusetts to pass a Complete Streets ordinance in 2014. Like Boston, Seattle and many cities across the world, it's part of the Vision Zero Network — a campaign to reduce and eliminate transportation injuries and fatalities.
Former New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is responsible for many of the changes to New York’s streets, and documents the political fights to achieve them in her book Street Fight.
Before and after photos from the NYC Department of Transportation
Boston and Seattle in photos
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
LINKS
Read more about Boston’s three-year planto expand the city’s biking infrastructure, make crosswalks safer for pedestrians, and offer biking classes to women and gender-diverse adults.
The Seattle Department of Transportation is in the middle of getting feedback on the Seattle Transportation Plan on how to build a safer and more efficient transportation system.
Read about Cul De Sac Tempe, a new car-free community in Arizona, where residents are contractually forbidden from parking within a quarter-mile radius of the site. (Bloomberg)
According to studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Toronto, Canada, bike lanes have a neutral or even positive impact on local businesses, even if some parking spaces are taken away.
A paper in the journal Energy Research & Social Science describes the EV transition as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and argues that private vehicle electrification is neither effective, nor equitable.
Studies say pedestrians and bikers are more likely to be hit by EVs and cause more damage because they’re quieter and heavier than gas cars.
Archival audio in this episode come from the 1953 film The American Road, funded by Ford Motor Company, and Futurama at the 1939 NY World’s Fair, funded by General Motors.
CREDITS
Hosted by Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt and Mara Hoplamazian
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Roy Edwin Williams
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
