The War on Cars

BONUS: What We Knew About Elon

Added 2022-12-20 11:30:00 +0000 UTC

Hello Patreoners!

It's been hard to escape the ongoing disaster that is Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. While a lot of people have been surprised that it could all go as spectacularly wrong as it's been going, anyone who has been paying attention to Musk's (mis)understanding of transportation-related issues like induced demand as well as his dig-tunnels-quick scheme saw this coming a long time ago. As far as Elon is concerned, the transit nerds, transportation planners and bike and pedestrian activists can rightfully look at the smoldering social media mess around us all and say, "We told you so."

In this ad-free bonus episode exclusively for our Patreon supporters, the three of us talk about what Twitter has meant to us as livable streets advocates, journalists and now podcasters. Given the outsized role the bird site has played as an organizing and informational tool for our movement and many others, what will happen if people abandon this digital town square? Where do we all go next? And now that more folks are waking up to the idea that Elon might not be as smart as he was made out to be in rather credulous magazine cover stories over the years, will this mean the end of city and state officials leaning on billionaires to solve public problems?(Spoiler alert: probably not.)

As an aside, we realized that this is the rare bonus episode featuring the three of us just talking. We've heard from a lot of Patreon supporters that this is a format you especially enjoy — we enjoy it too! — so look for more of these as 2023 gets underway.

It's been quite a year for the podcast and we remain, as always, extremely grateful to you all for being a part of this community. We wish you all the best for a happy holiday season and a healthy new year!

- Aaron, Sarah and Doug

You can listen to this exclusive Patreon-only, ad-free bonus episode in your browser, but if you want to listen on Apple Podcasts or another podcast app, please check out these instructions on how to find and use your private RSS audio link from Patreon. You can also use the Patreon app.