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

Main Streets

June 7, 2023

1:29 on.soundcloud.com/RfwA2
Connected: A car-free path providing critical connections between the Riverfront and Detroit destinations recently opened in Detroit. Marc Pasco, Director of communications for the Detroit Riverfront and Conservancy, tells Taylor, Lindsay, and Nick about the recently opened Southwest Greenway. detroitgreenways.org/projects/southwest-greenway/

22:15 on.soundcloud.com/nwYbT
Building Hope: Detroit’s Hope Village Revitalization is a community-led organization that works toward sustainable and equitable development in Detroit. Jeff Jones, President and Executive Director, tells us how they’ve created bike infrastructure with community at its center. With Reo Ramsey, President of the Motown Trailblazers bike club, and Nick Richert. hopevillagecdc.org/

41:58 on.soundcloud.com/UHfik
The Western Massachusetts town of Easthampton and its City Engineer use federal Safe Streets For All Funds to connect local and regional bike paths and make other infrastructure improvements. With Daniel Murphy, Easthampton, Massachusetts City Engineer, and Galen Mook, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition Executive Director and Cambridge Bike Talk Host. www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A

56:22 on.soundcloud.com/cDEys
Affirmations: Uncle Dan’s thoughts on Bike Talk.

Editing by Kevin Burton and Taylor Nichols.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

Detroit, easthampton, greenways, joelouis
Ending Car Supremacy Broadcast

June 1, 2023

:58 on.soundcloud.com/76wUv
The Price of Parking: Paved Paradise author Henry Grabar explains how parking ruins cities. With Taylor Nichols.

20:11 on.soundcloud.com/2KW2w
London Calling: journalist and Spokesmen podcaster Carlton Reid on how London, like Paris, makes driving inconvenient, and why that’s necessary to increase bike, pedestrian, and transit modeshare, for a more liveable city. With Lindsay Sturman and Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher.

40:29 on.soundcloud.com/e6nze
Sounds of Silence: a Los Angeles iteration of the Ride of Silence, an international ride to commemorate those who’ve been killed or injured while riding a bike. The ride began at Jimmy Lizama’s Reciclos Co-op, with riders from No More Ghost Bikes and Trash Panda rides, including Anne Marie Drolet and Raff Hernandez. By Joe Borfo.
rideofsilence.org

Editing by Kevin Burton, Taylor Nichols, Lindsay Sturman and Mitchell Bove.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

congestion, convenience, parking, Speed
Bike Month Always

May 24, 2023

1:36 on.soundcloud.com/tqsbL
His Turf: John Jones III, East Side Riders President, at CicLAvia Mini.

5:00 on.soundcloud.com/P7mpZ
Critical Comeback: Vancouver’s conservative city council uses dedicated bike funds to remove a protected bike lane. In response, Vancouver’s Critical Mass has come back. With Lucy Maloney and Rob Zomber.

19:05 on.soundcloud.com/FVFKc
What you don’t know: Tire particles emit more pollution than modern tailpipes, a study finds, challenging assumptions about EVs, speed, and traffic. Nick Molden, CEO of Emissions Analytics, Dave Campbell, Bicycle Planner with Charlotte, NC, and Dr. Grace Peng, Natural Resources chair for the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles County. www.theguardian.com/environment/202…usts-tests-show

38:07 on.soundcloud.com/5byjq
Eat-n-Ride: In bike-friendly Northampton, Massachusetts, advocates celebrated Bike Month with a Bike Breakfast. Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, Bike Breakfast founder James Lowenthal, Massachusetts Bike Coalition Communications Coordinator Jes Slavin, All Bodies on Bikes Western Massachusetts Chapter Leader Jacob Shepherd-Seidl, New England mountain biking champion Salem Mazzawy, Council Vice-President Karen Foster, Northampton Cycling Club President Jonathan Brody.

53:06 on.soundcloud.com/gMqtJ
D.C. Local: Washington, D.C. man on the street Joel Gwadz interviews Laura as she locks up her bike.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

ciclavia, criticalmass, esrbc, vancouver
Lives Above All

May 17, 2023

Intro
Bike Month happenings with Detroit Motown Trailblazers Founder Reo Ramsay, Los Angeles CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual, and Berkshire Bike Path Council President Marjorie Cohan. With cohosts Seamus Garrity, Nick Richert, and Taylor Nichols.

18:10 on.soundcloud.com/xWmMo
Life or Liberty: AB 645 would install speed cameras in California cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Mobility advocates overwhelmingly support the bill, but the California ACLU opposes AB 645, citing privacy and equity concerns. Cohost Seamus Garrity interviews Becca Cramer-Mowder, a Legislative Advocate for the ACLU.

35:03 on.soundcloud.com/C7CHW
Planning Prodigy: Hafeez is fighting for safe bike, bus, and complete streets infrastructure in Toronto. With Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher.

48:57 on.soundcloud.com/gyaD1
Bikeable dreams: Bike Talk Cohost and Livable Cities Initiative co-Founder Lindsay Sturman on good and bad bike infrastructure, with cohost Taylor Nichols.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

berkshires, bikepath, Detroit, losangeles
Safety Bills the Joe Louis Greenway Bike Month

May 9, 2023

Intro
Bike Month: What’s happening May, Bike Month, in Santa Monica, Detroit, and Northampton, Massachusetts; cohosts Taylor Nichols, Lindsay Sturman, and Nick Richert get a rundown with Cynthia Rose, Director of Santa Monica Spoke, Todd Scott, Executive Director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition, and Elena Huisman, Board Member of Friends of Northampton Trails.

15:19 on.soundcloud.com/YT5SK
Greener Way: a 30 mile long “greenway” brings new life to Detroit communities. Joe Louis Greenway Project Manager Christina Peltier and Detroit cyclist K’Loni Thorpe talk with Taylor.

28:08 on.soundcloud.com/vAynT
Speed Catchers: California AB 645 would put the brakes on drivers in 6 pilot cities, while addressing privacy and equity concerns. Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, Long Beach, and the City and County of San Francisco would get speed cameras if the bill passes. Seamus Garrity talks with Becca Motola-Barnes of WalkSF. walksf.org/get-involved/take-a…peed-safety-cameras
Petition “Reign In Reckless Speeding In California:” www.change.org/p/reign-in-reckle…ing-in-california

42:32 on.soundcloud.com/ide7K
Ironic Justice: U.S. diplomat Sarah Debbink Langenkamp returned from her work in Ukraine, a literal war zone, only to be killed in a bike lane by a truck driver making a right turn in Bethesda, Maryland. The Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Act would unlock roadway safety funds for local governments. Taylor talks about the act with Portland Congressmember Earl Blumenauer, who cosponsored the act, and Sarah’s husband, Daniel Langenkamp.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

detroitgreenways, greenway, protectedlane, Santamonicaspoke
Bike Wars

May 2, 2023

5:13 on.soundcloud.com/mJcC1
Bike Wars: Seamus Garrity interviews Streetsblog LA Editor Joe Linton and Streets For All Founder Michael Schneider on Los Angeles’s misleading claims about its progress towards Mobility Plan 2035, and the ballot measure that would force the city to implement its plan. la.streetsblog.org/2023/04/13/asto…-mobility-plan/

22:26 on.soundcloud.com/Kj2sx
Driver Lobby: Toronto Star Journalist Matt Elliot counters anti-bike bad faith arguments with guest host Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher. www.thestar.com/opinion/contribut…ke-lobby-are.html

37:16 on.soundcloud.com/8uiY2
Thoreau on a Bike: Mark Cramer, author of “If Thoreau Rode A Bicycle,” talks to Taylor Nichols.

49:45 on.soundcloud.com/WqyM2
A Challenge: Anna Zivarts, Director of the Mobility Disability Initiative, on the #WeekWithoutDriving, with Nick Richert.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

healthystreets, losangeles, streetsblog, Toronto
Vision Zero and the Bicycle Future

April 27, 2023

2:33 on.soundcloud.com/gjUub
Violence Reaction: A steep spike in Oakland, California car killings after the pandemic and the loss of the city’s pandemic-era slow streets spurred the formation of The Traffic Violence Rapid Response Team. Seamus Garrity interviews George Spies and Carter Lavin, volunteers with the Team.

21:59 on.soundcloud.com/nW5By
Lives Above All Else: Columbus, Ohio is on board for safer streets. Taylor Nichols interviews Maria Cantrell, Vision Zero Coordinator for Columbus, Ohio, Emma Kogge, Transportation Planner for the City, and Angie Shmitt, a transportation writer and planner based in Cleveland.

39:10 on.soundcloud.com/EjebM
No Place Like Home: We look to places like the Netherlands for examples of safe biking infrastructure, but Inlander editor Nick Deshais has written an article that places Spokane, Washington among the great biking cities of the world. www.inlander.com/culture/the-futu…spokane-24647156
By Taylor Nichols.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

columbus, oakland, trafficviolence, visionzero
Bike Infrastructure and Carfreedom

April 18, 2023

1:00 on.soundcloud.com/aUw3u
This is Big: The Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT), when finished, will be the longest rail trail in New England at 104 miles from Boston to Northampton, 2/3 of the way across the state. Craig Della Penna, Executive Director with Norwottuck Network, a non-profit corporation that supports the build-out and operation of the Mass Central Rail Trail, here gives Bike Talk a preview of the Norwottuck Network report about what a completed MCRT will mean to the Commonwealth. www.nnnetwork.net/

11:28 on.soundcloud.com/FV3Ao
Nope: Safe street advocates shouldn’t support the unsafe Valencia Street center-running bike lane recently approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, according to Valencia Street activist Stacey Randecker.

28:09 on.soundcloud.com/sMrcS
A Post Car Future: Cars and capitalism discussed by Matthew Rozsa, author of articles about car dependency and inequality at Salon.com, with John Renne, a Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University, co-author of the study “Socioeconomics of Urban Travel in the U.S.” www.salon.com/2023/03/19/as-weal…r-afford-to-drive/ www.salon.com/2023/04/09/is-a-po…e-could-get-there/

46:20 on.soundcloud.com/HffFU
Car Free Forever: In 2020, the City of Toronto took the bold step of closing High Park to vehicles on weekends. Now, there’s a movement to make High Park permanently car free. Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher interviews Faraz Gholizadeh, co-founder of Safe Parkside.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

MCRT, Renne, Rozsa, valencia
Changes

April 11, 2023

2:24 on.soundcloud.com/ocg3p
Wild at Heart: A girl tames a big-kid bike in “Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike,” by bestselling children’s book author and journalist Dashka Slater. Dashka reads the story.

19:44 on.soundcloud.com/7e3vN
No Time For Losers: Pittsfield’s City Council strikes down a referendum to bring the design of its downtown pilot protected lane to voters on the November ballot. With Ricardo Morales, Pittsfield, Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Public Utilities.

38:15 on.soundcloud.com/6Bkjy
Centering Safety: A new protected bike lane will run down the center of one of San Francisco’s most dangerous and important streets, Valencia. San Francisco bike advocate-activists Robin Pam, Aditya Bhumbla, and Zach Lipton chat with Seamus Garrity.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

completestreets, protectedbikelane, sanfrancisco, valencia
Summit

April 4, 2023

1:19.70 on.soundcloud.com/o9tF3
Alleycats: The 23rd National Bike Summit, which wrapped up at the end of March, had an “adjacent” Alleycat ride: the Intro to Alleycat ride, or Alleycat for Dummies. Galen Mook, MassBike Executive Director, interviews Joel Gwadz, organizer of the ride, along with John Yeast of New Belgium Brewery, one of the ride’s sponsors.

16:01 on.soundcloud.com/VdXYe
Check it: at an Alleycat checkpoint in Washington, DC’s famous Blagden Alley, in front of the “Love” mural, volunteers Nick, Marina, and Lisa give away sponsored Dr. Bronner’s magic chocolate bars to riders who must take selfies. Volunteer Lisa Brady’s day job happens to involve Safe Routes to Schools, as well as being Board President of the Treasure Valley cycling Alliance in Boise, Idaho.

22:41 on.soundcloud.com/rUJCD
Growing fast: An Alleycat rider’s perspective on the ride resonates with history. Keshia Roberson, founder of Major Knox Adventures and presenter of They Were Seeds: The Buried Legacy of Black Wheelwomen at the National Bike Summit, interviews with Galen Mook.

26:47 on.soundcloud.com/ufUoV
Tour de Bike Lanes: commuters and tourists in a DC lane are treated as Tour de France racers by Cate Cohen, in honor of her husband, DC rider David Confer, who died of liver cancer.

29:26 on.soundcloud.com/8bNMG
After ‘cat: Galen Mook sums up the Alleycat and interviews Josh from Grand Rapids at the Alleycat afterparty.

33:16 on.soundcloud.com/9Ny9Q
Bike Troupe: The Agile Rascal Touring Theater’s performers and, sometimes, their audiences, incorporate bikes and riding in their shows. Dara Silverman, Artistic Director, unpacks at the Summit closing reception.

36:32 on.soundcloud.com/DYyg4
Representing: At the Summit’s closing reception Earl Blumenauer, Congressional Representative of Portland, Oregon and founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, focused on this moment in bike advocacy.

39:29 on.soundcloud.com/ydjpk
Joining the Club: Northampton, Massachusetts bike champions Adele Paquin and Ruthy Woodring reflect on their new afterschool bike club at JFK Middle School as the semester comes to an end.

43:41 on.soundcloud.com/Wx9Dx
Book in Soweto: Bicycle Entrepreneur Mpumi Mtintso organizes Tour de Libraries and historical bike tours in the township of Soweto, South Africa.

alleycat, dc, Gwadzilla, nationalbikesummit