The Brake
Basics
Why Sustainable Transportation Advocates Need to Talk About Long COVID
Covid-19 transformed many U.S. cities' approach to sustainable transportation forever. But how did it transform the lives of sustainable transportation advocates who developed lasting symptoms from the disease?
September 19, 2023
Which Car-Cutting Strategies Really Work — And Which Ones Will We Accept?
A new study explores what it really takes to cut VMT, and how communities can craft effective plans to transition out of car dependency.
September 5, 2023
What Does ‘Inclusive Transportation’ Really Mean?
Transportation 'equity' doesn't mean the same thing to everyone — and a new book argues that understanding why is key to actually achieving it.
August 1, 2023
Did Minnesota Just Release the Best Statewide Transportation Bill Yet?
Minnesota's new state transportation financing and policy bill reads like a sustainable transportation advocates' holiday wishlist. How did they get there— and could it be a model for other communities, too?
July 18, 2023
How To Train an Army of Sustainable Transportation Advocates
Today, we're sitting down with Carter Lavin, a Bay-area activist who's made it his mission to give people the skills, vision, and capacity to campaign for better sustainable transportation policies in their town.
Streetsblog
June 6, 2023
Podcast: Is the Electric Car a ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’?
On today's episode of The Brake, we sit down with the co-author of a new paper, "Exposing the Structural Violence of Private Electric Automobility," to talk about why the EV debate is so polarizing.
May 9, 2023
How Can Sustainable Transportation Advocates Help End Poverty? An Interview with Matthew Desmond
One in nine Americans live in poverty, and millions more live in a precarious place somewhere between precarity and true security. A new book argues that we can all play a role in challenging the systems and individual choices that "keep poor people poor" for benefit for everyone else.
April 25, 2023
How to Reframe the Narrative About Car Dependency
On today's episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson brings you an extended interview with Grant Ennis, author of Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment. Listen now.
March 28, 2023
Interview: What Does It Take To Start Your Own Bikeshare?
Most bikeshare rides taken on U.S. soil happen in a handful of gigantic cities, on systems maintained by big corporations. But at YoGo Bikeshare in Youngstown, Ohio, Ronnell Elkins and his team are building a bespoke micromobility option specifically for his neighbors — and hoping to create a model for other small cities to combat car dependency.
March 14, 2023
Can Athletes Help Solve Urbanism’s PR Problem? Soccer Star Tesho Akindele Thinks So
If the typical professional athlete talks about transportation at all, it's usually in the context of a mulit-million SUV commercial. Soccer star Tesho Akindele, though, isn't the typical athlete — and as he transitions out of his career on the field, he wants to make a full-time job out of building walkable, bikeable, equitable cities.
February 14, 2023
