America’s morning ritual is treating kids like packages instead of people. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
The dehumanizing school car line
America’s morning ritual is treating kids like packages instead of people
open.substack.com
Andy Boenau
@handle.invalid
When I'm not engineering safe & healthy streets, I'm running my mouth about it. urbanismspeakeasy.com
Corporate media outlets have found a new click-bait genre: the terrifying e-bike. Social media warriors and neighborhood busybodies are all in a tizzy. usa.streetsblog.org/2026/09/11/i... @usa.streetsblog.org
I Care About E-Bike Safety 0.02 Percent of The Time — Streetsblog USA
Click-bait media outlets would have you think we should drop everything and do something about the scary threat of battery-powered bicycles and battery-powered motorcycles. But are either the biggest ...
usa.streetsblog.org
Click-bait media outlets would have you think we should drop everything and do something about the scary threat of battery-powered bicycles and battery-powered motorcycles. But are either the biggest threat that road users face? usa.streetsblog.org/2026/09/11/i...
I Care About E-Bike Safety 0.02 Percent of The Time — Streetsblog USA
Click-bait media outlets would have you think we should drop everything and do something about the scary threat of battery-powered bicycles and battery-powered motorcycles. But are either the biggest ...
usa.streetsblog.org
I care about e-bike safety 0.2% of the time. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
I care about e-bike safety 0.2% of the time
Click-bait media outlets would have you think we should drop everything and do something about the scary threat of battery-powered bicycles (and yes, battery-powered motorcycles).
open.substack.com
In a city where public transit has good coverage, you can walk anywhere. A transit trip is a walking trip.
Here's an unconventional reading list for my fellow agents of culture change. 13 books not about urbanism that will lead to better urbanism. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
These 13 books aren’t about urbanism, but they’ll lead to better urbanism
An unconventional reading list for the agents of culture change.
open.substack.com
If you want to have any hope of persuading people, you’ve got to first understand how the human mind works. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Why people oppose the safer option
What I got wrong about persuasion.
open.substack.com
Trauma Bond: A strong emotional bond formed between a victim and their abuser during prolonged exposure to trauma or captivity. Americans endure miserable commutes but insist there's no other way to travel.
The hating on quick-build bike lane networks by pro-bike academics and advocates is silly rage bait, so I hope they don’t discourage you. Absolutely support premium infrastructure, but establish networks now that get people riding now. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Stop Making Everything a Show Pony
Paint and flex posts are a good strategy, not a consolation prize.
open.substack.com
Paint and flex posts are a good strategy, not a consolation prize. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Stop Making Everything a Show Pony
Paint and flex posts are a good strategy, not a consolation prize.
open.substack.com
Pro-bike academics and advocates sometimes fall into this trap of attacking quick-build bike lane projects because a painted buffer doesn't protect you like concrete would. Don't be that guy. Capture the territory with paint & posts while pursuing funding for premium builds.
Transportation experts will say the road expansion project is worth it, but that's because they're leaving out the most expensive costs in their analysis. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
The costs they don't count
Transportation experts rarely factor the human and economic toll into decisions that pave over safer alternatives.
open.substack.com
The roughly one-third of Americans who don’t drive—seniors who’ve stopped, people with disabilities, low-income households who can’t afford a car, people in transit-served cities—are subsidizing infrastructure they use little or not at all. www.fastcompany.com/91540490/gas... @fastcompany.com
The way we finance new highways and roads is no longer working
Those who use the roads should pay for the roads.
fastcompany.com
You don't have to wait generations to make generational change. Capture the territory first, then harden over time. www.fastcompany.com/91540493/roa...
When it comes to road safety, quick-build strategies may be better than ‘perfect’ solutions
A case in point: ‘road diets.’
fastcompany.com
Our instinct is to judge anyone who relies on mental shortcuts. But it’s human nature and we all do it. Once you accept that, you can better communicate with people instead of talking past people. www.fastcompany.com/91522052/how...
How we make decisions, and how to reach people who've already made up their minds
Inside the ‘Elaboration Likelihood Model.’
fastcompany.com
Exclusion got repackaged as neighborhood character. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Red Bull NIMBYs
Exclusion got repackaged as neighborhood character.
open.substack.com
"We walked a lot and sometimes rode bikes to doctor’s appointments, the stores, the pool. But my mom’s favorite assignments were the ones to towns and cities with good public transportation, the places where a person with a vision problem had no problem getting around." www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
My mom never had a driver's license. I'm better for it
"My mom’s inability to drive me around gave me an age-appropriate freedom I couldn’t have enjoyed buckled up in the backseat of a station wagon," writes Kate Neale Cooper. "I paid my own fare, I dealt...
wbur.org
Be deeply skeptical of any report on the economic costs of traffic congestion. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Transportation economics is flawed
The “time is money” mantra is a terrible starting point for planning and designing infrastructure.
open.substack.com
Putting already careless and reckless drivers in large vehicles without any sort of demonstrated skill is asking for trouble. www.fastcompany.com/91496840/we-...
We need to rethink our love affair with big vehicles
It's time for U.S. drivers to have difficult conversations about the data showing the dangers of large vehicles like pickup trucks and SUVs.
fastcompany.com
Lunch-break analysis should happen long before rush hour traffic analysis. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Begin with the [photogenic] end in mind
Planners and engineers need to visualize the future human experience of their infrastructure improvements.
open.substack.com
Productivity, and alleged lost productivity, has driven most of the conversation around traffic congestion and sprawl in the United States. While “time is money” is true in some contexts, it’s a terrible starting point for planning transportation systems. www.fastcompany.com/91496835/tim...
The ‘time is money’ mantra is a terrible starting point for planning and designing infrastructure
Building a human-scale city means designing towards outcomes that enable people to flourish.
fastcompany.com
There are absolutely valid concerns about autonomous vehicles. But remember that humans are causing a public health crisis that kills tens of thousands every year. www.fastcompany.com/91485413/if-...
If technology could bring traffic fatalities down to nearly zero, why not embrace it?
Autonomous vehicles programmed to operate safely are part of the quest to design for human flourishing.
fastcompany.com
People seem to be clueless about everything they *can't* see while driving modern SUVs and pick-ups.
I think it was Frank Drebin who wisely said free parking and Drano both have benefits.
If you’re like most drivers, public transit is for other people. But here’s the thing: investing in better buses and trains could make your commute faster and less stressful, without you ever setting foot on one. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
