Bike Talk - A radio show dedicated to the idea that for public and planetary health we need to prioritize public transportation by bikes

Latest Episode

Leading the Way

April 4, 2024

Listener email: an endorsement for Charles Marohn’s “empathy for the driver,” D.C. bike infrastructure, and an inquiry about our theme song, “Bike.”
2:41

The entire state of California and the individual cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Los Angeles have proposed or passed measures which implement bike plans when repaving roads. With Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Robert Printz.
7:19

California isn’t the only leader in bike friendly legislation; heads of bike and safe streets organizations in New York City, Minneapolis, Detroit, Massachusetts, and Paris share their success stories.
17:20

ValleyBike, Massachusetts’ 2nd largest bikeshare, went bankrupt. Carolyn Misch, Sustainability Director of the city of Northampton, MA., talks about the lesson therein, and how bikeshare can be sustainable.
28:26

Union-busting, bikeshare-dropping Lyft’s bid to replace the current Los Angeles bikeshare vendor, Bicycle Transit Systems, failed. Anne Marie Drolet, Chief Shop Steward of LA Metro Bikeshare, gives some context.
47:52

Listener email: can companies be sued for letting employees do virtual meetings or read work docs while driving?
49:52

Traffic by Don.
50:52

Bike Thought by Stacey.
52:01

bicycletransit, bikeshare, california, lyft, oakland, podcasting, radio, repaving, safestreets, unions
Live to Ride

March 29, 2024

The Access to Hollywood program will add protected bike and bus lanes and cause “traffic evaporation” on LA’s Hollywood Boulevard. Taylor Nichols with LA City Council District 4 Field Deputy Mehmet Berker.
2:01

Personal injury lawyer Jim Pocrass explains the legal grounds for taking the lane.
8:35

Live To Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle, the book. With author and journalist Peter Flax.
23:00

Northern Virginia Opens New “66-Parallel” Bike And Walking Trail. With Fairfax Alliance for Better Biking founder Bruce Wright.
40:58

Bike thought by Stacey.
54:37

access, bicycling, biketrail, hollywood, pedestrian, progress, ride, takethelane
Bikes, the Universe, and Everything

March 22, 2024

Listener Email: Jonathan Weiss on how much harder it is to get a driver’s license in Europe than in the U.S., and why that endangers all of us.
1:06

The Rockbros Smart Turn Signal review by Reo Ramsey of Motown Trailblazers in Detroit.
2:52

Listener Email: Jonathan Levin on how shaming drivers causes intransigence.
6:20

Recovering Engineer and Strong Towns founder Charles Marohn on gaining local control over streets to make them safer for everybody, and, to that end, refraining from shaming drivers as in this tweet.
With Stacey Randecker.
9:53

2 new anthologies of Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction from Bikenomics author Elly Blue and Microcosm Publishing: Bikes, the Universe, and Everything and The Bicyclists’ Guide to the Galaxy
30:20

A Bike Life Rideout in Springfield, Massachusetts.
50:06

Bike Thought by Stacey.
54:40

bikelights, cars, empathy, feminism, humanerror, scifi, traffic
Empathy for the Driver

March 15, 2024

Winter Riding in Utah
0:23
the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure was approved by voters last week. If it does what is intended, LA will finally be forced to implement its own mobility plan, bike lanes and all. Michael Schneider, founder of Streets For All, reports on the success of his organization’s measure.
2:31
Listener email from Børge A. Roum in Norway.
9:11
Charles Marohn, author of “Confessions of a Recovering Engineer” and founder of Strong Towns, reflects on why we shouldn’t ridicule people in oversized cars, but rather “draw a larger circle of empathy” to include drivers in a tweet and here.
13:30
Transportation Alternatives NYC and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created Spatial Equity NYC, a tool for comparing the distribution of resources across districts in New York City. With TransAlt Communications Director Alexa Sledge.
44:45
Bike Thought by Stacey
53:30

drivers, empathy, hla, nyc, oversizedcars, spatialequity, steetsforall, strongtowns, transalt, winterbike
Stop Victim Blaming

March 8, 2024

Eddie Vargas, Grub Hub bike delivery worker, loads up groceries in Los Angeles.
1:51
Bike Traffic report with Don Ward.
4:57
A new study in the Journal for Transport and Land Use shows blaming individuals for traffic violence prevents systemic changes to US roadways.
5:50
“There Are No Accidents” author Jessie Singer on the evolution of the accident, and how the auto industry has convinced the public that car crashes are due to “jaywalkers,” “nutty drivers,” and human error- when they are built into our roads and cars.
10:45
Author Caroline Paul on her article “My Mother got on a bike. It changed her life” and the book from which it sprung, New York Times bestseller “The Gutsy Girl, Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure.”
32:26
One girl’s first time getting hit by a car.
51:22
Bike Thought by Stacey.
53:43

accidents, bikelanes, bikelash, bikes, crash, deliveristas, grubhub, hla, humanerror, pedestrians
Priorities

March 1, 2024

Voices of CicLAvia.
1:54
The law of riding in inclement weather, with Jim Pocrass.
4:32
Heads of Active Transportation Organizations on their legislative Priorities: Kendra Ramsey, Executive Director of CalBike.
11:42
José Antonio Zayas Cabán, Executive Director of Our Streets Minneapolis.
21:30
Todd Scott, Executive Director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition.
29:00
LA Times Letter Editor Paul Thornton on Biking in Los Angeles.
www.latimes.com/opinion/newslette…et-safety-opinion
37:30
Bike Thought.
55:30

calbike, cars, ciclavia, Detroit, greenways, legislation, Ourstreetsmpls, priorities, safety
The Art of Advocacy

February 22, 2024

Guest host: Caro Vilain @mobilityforwhom

Listener Email: Robert Prinz, Advocacy Director, Bike East Bay
0:54

Bike Lane myths
2:15

Healthy Streets Los Angeles, on the ballot March 5, could transform car-centric streets. Michael Schneider, founder of the measure, on why it’s needed.
3:57

California Professional Firefighters Union President Brian Rice is mad about a lot of things, all embodied by Healthy Streets Los Angeles and symbolized by the bicycle.
14:28

Biking While Black documentary maker Yolanda Davis-Overstreet with Damon Turner, founder of Los Angeles Biking Academy and a subject of the film, on bike advocacy in their community.
18:23

“V” on Chicagoans who Bike, a photo project about the wide variety of Chicagoans who bike.
40:25

Bike Thought
56:08

animalsattack, bikingwhileblack, carcrazy, carviolence, chicago, labikeacademy, photography
In Vulnerability

February 16, 2024

Chain maintenance with Anne Marie Drolet.
1:54
Bike Law, with Jim Pocrass.
3:51
New studies on increasing bike modeshare in the UK .
12:51
The Vulnerable Road User Safety Act of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with Michael Kelley, Policy Director, Bike Walk Kansas City.
18:25
Community forms on the way to school in a walkable and bikeable Minneapolis neighborhood, according to Laura Mitchell, Board President of Our Streets Minneapolis.
34:05
Bike Thought with Stacey Randecker.
53:02

bikeable, bikechains, bikelaws, community, families, KC, kids, Minneapolis, modeshare, VRUSA, walkable, winterbiking
Bike Grid Nation

February 11, 2024

Taylor reviews SF’s controversial Valencia St. bike lane.
0:20
A Winnipeg rider, Patty Wiens, responds to Taylor’s LA-centric comments about winter riding “on a trainer in the basement” back east.
1:29
News on Metro Bike Share in LA and best romantic riding.
4:21
Why Are American Drivers so Deadly? NY Times writer Matthew Shaer unpacks his article with Taylor.
6:05
How we move forward to create sustainable cities with networks of protected bike lanes, or bike grids. With Gil Peñalosa, founder of 8-80 Cities.
26:02
Stacey’s Bike Thought
54:26

bikegrid, fatalities, protectedlanes, romance, traffic, unitedstates
Sharing is Caring

February 2, 2024

A listener, Reese, speaks for connected, protected bike lanes in Utah.
2:00
News: With pedestrian and cyclist deaths in Los Angeles at an 8-year high, the departing Los Angeles Police Chief blames reckless biking and walking habits. In California, SB 961 calls for all new cars to have speed governors. A Die-in against traffic violence at LA City Hall.
7:12
When a 14 year old on his bike was hit by an uninsured motorist in Chicago, personal injury lawyer Jonel Metaj took the case all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. Now, people in Illinois with uninsured motorist coverage will be protected when biking and walking, too.
18:57
Alison Cohen is the founder of Bicycle Transit Systems, which operates bikeshare in cities throughout the US. She explains how BTS came to be threatened with replacement by Lyft in Los Angeles.
33:00
A Bike Thought by Stacey.
52:23

bikeshare, lyft, metro, participation, sb691, Speed, trafficviolence