David Zipper
@davidzipper.bsky.social
Senior Fellow @ MIT Mobility Initiative & Contributing Writer @ Vox, focused on transport, cities and tech. Words in Atlantic, CityLab, WaPo, etc. https://linktr.ee/davidzipper
Newsletter, speaking and advisory work: http://davidzipper.com
Newsletter, speaking and advisory work: http://davidzipper.com
Pinned
David Zipper
@davidzipper.bsky.social
· Jul 15
Look Both Ways Podcast: Episode 1
YouTube video by Look Both Ways with David & Wes
www.youtube.com
A bit of news:
@wesmars.bsky.social & I are launching Look Both Ways, a new podcast where we’ll debate everything transportation – from street design to robotaxis to fare-free transit.
First episode will be recorded live on Thurs, July 17th at 6p ET.
Join us then (and subscribe) ⤵️
🧵
@wesmars.bsky.social & I are launching Look Both Ways, a new podcast where we’ll debate everything transportation – from street design to robotaxis to fare-free transit.
First episode will be recorded live on Thurs, July 17th at 6p ET.
Join us then (and subscribe) ⤵️
🧵
Her: Have you watched Nobody Wants This?
Me: No, is it about AI?
Me: No, is it about AI?
November 15, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Her: Have you watched Nobody Wants This?
Me: No, is it about AI?
Me: No, is it about AI?
This, in Berlin, is wild:
"Residential parking permits have been capped at just over €10 per year since 2008 – far below the administrative costs incurred to issue them and less than the cost of a 24-hour metro ticket."
"Residential parking permits have been capped at just over €10 per year since 2008 – far below the administrative costs incurred to issue them and less than the cost of a 24-hour metro ticket."
‘The car belongs in Berlin’: city backpedaling on bike-friendly policies, critics say
Car-critical measures have been slashed since the conservative CDU came into power in 2023, triggering protests and dividing communities
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:52 PM
This, in Berlin, is wild:
"Residential parking permits have been capped at just over €10 per year since 2008 – far below the administrative costs incurred to issue them and less than the cost of a 24-hour metro ticket."
"Residential parking permits have been capped at just over €10 per year since 2008 – far below the administrative costs incurred to issue them and less than the cost of a 24-hour metro ticket."
Reposted by David Zipper
Really fun and interesting episode today. Particularly the comments about the utility of speed cameras which is pretty relevant to MN people right now.
New pod is out!
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Really fun and interesting episode today. Particularly the comments about the utility of speed cameras which is pretty relevant to MN people right now.
My take on Mamdani's ambitious vision for revamping NYC streets:
"The NYC DOT Commissioner position is going to be the most exciting job in American transportation."
From the latest @lookbothwayspod.bsky.social (please ignore my crooked glasses):
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
"The NYC DOT Commissioner position is going to be the most exciting job in American transportation."
From the latest @lookbothwayspod.bsky.social (please ignore my crooked glasses):
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
November 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
My take on Mamdani's ambitious vision for revamping NYC streets:
"The NYC DOT Commissioner position is going to be the most exciting job in American transportation."
From the latest @lookbothwayspod.bsky.social (please ignore my crooked glasses):
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
"The NYC DOT Commissioner position is going to be the most exciting job in American transportation."
From the latest @lookbothwayspod.bsky.social (please ignore my crooked glasses):
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
Reposted by David Zipper
New pod is out!
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
November 13, 2025 at 12:20 PM
New pod is out!
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
On the agenda for @davidzipper.bsky.social & @wesmars.bsky.social:
🔹 What Mamdani means for NYC transportation
🔹 Why flying cars are always just around the corner
🔹 Automatic enforcement vs street redesign: Which should be the priority?
lookbothwayspod.podbean.com/e/episode-9-...
Reposted by David Zipper
There is no reason to believe Waymo or Zoox will be any different.
Remember all the hype about how Uber and Lyft would allow people to live car-free?
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
November 12, 2025 at 10:37 PM
There is no reason to believe Waymo or Zoox will be any different.
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Remember all the hype about how Uber and Lyft would allow people to live car-free?
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
November 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Remember all the hype about how Uber and Lyft would allow people to live car-free?
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
Well, it turns out ridehail has no discernible impact on car ownership at all.
Analysis from Glenn Mercer's excellent newsletter:
glennmercer.substack.com/p/the-impact...
Last week I gave a keynote about robotaxis' impact on urban life at the Smart City World Congress in Barcelona. For highlights, see here: www.linkedin.com/posts/david-...
TL;DR: European cities are already great. Adding robotaxis would bring significant risk -- and limited upside.
TL;DR: European cities are already great. Adding robotaxis would bring significant risk -- and limited upside.
November 12, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Last week I gave a keynote about robotaxis' impact on urban life at the Smart City World Congress in Barcelona. For highlights, see here: www.linkedin.com/posts/david-...
TL;DR: European cities are already great. Adding robotaxis would bring significant risk -- and limited upside.
TL;DR: European cities are already great. Adding robotaxis would bring significant risk -- and limited upside.
Boston transportation chief @jfh01.bsky.social announced he is stepping down, just days after Mayor Michelle Wu coasted to reelection.
Franklin-Hodge has led Wu's push for bike lanes, complete streets, and faster bus service. TBD if she'll maintain such priorities during her second term.
Franklin-Hodge has led Wu's push for bike lanes, complete streets, and faster bus service. TBD if she'll maintain such priorities during her second term.
Franklin-Hodge Stepping Down As Boston's Chief of Streets - Streetsblog Massachusetts
Boston Transportation Department Commissioner Nick Gove will take over as Interim Chief of Streets at the end of this month.
mass.streetsblog.org
November 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Boston transportation chief @jfh01.bsky.social announced he is stepping down, just days after Mayor Michelle Wu coasted to reelection.
Franklin-Hodge has led Wu's push for bike lanes, complete streets, and faster bus service. TBD if she'll maintain such priorities during her second term.
Franklin-Hodge has led Wu's push for bike lanes, complete streets, and faster bus service. TBD if she'll maintain such priorities during her second term.
New Zealand's transport minister knows that congestion pricing's popularity always rises:
"[Once] benefits start to flow in terms of smoother journey times, reduced traffic at peak times, smog goes down, safety improves, people go 'this is fantastic,' and immediately public opinion turns around."
"[Once] benefits start to flow in terms of smoother journey times, reduced traffic at peak times, smog goes down, safety improves, people go 'this is fantastic,' and immediately public opinion turns around."
Legislation allowing congestion charging passes third reading in Parliament
The Bill establishes a framework permitting local authorities to set up a congestion charging scheme, by notifying NZTA.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
New Zealand's transport minister knows that congestion pricing's popularity always rises:
"[Once] benefits start to flow in terms of smoother journey times, reduced traffic at peak times, smog goes down, safety improves, people go 'this is fantastic,' and immediately public opinion turns around."
"[Once] benefits start to flow in terms of smoother journey times, reduced traffic at peak times, smog goes down, safety improves, people go 'this is fantastic,' and immediately public opinion turns around."
Reviewing Mamdani's past comments about transportation and getting pretty excited
www.reddit.com/r/Micromobil...
www.reddit.com/r/Micromobil...
November 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reviewing Mamdani's past comments about transportation and getting pretty excited
www.reddit.com/r/Micromobil...
www.reddit.com/r/Micromobil...
"This article should end here. Alas."
From "'Self-Driving' Means Self-Driving," a new law review article by Bryant Walker Smith.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
From "'Self-Driving' Means Self-Driving," a new law review article by Bryant Walker Smith.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
"This article should end here. Alas."
From "'Self-Driving' Means Self-Driving," a new law review article by Bryant Walker Smith.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
From "'Self-Driving' Means Self-Driving," a new law review article by Bryant Walker Smith.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Get 'em while they're young
electric bubble car for kids drives them to places on its own and without adults on board
www.designboom.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Get 'em while they're young
New NBER research finds that in NYC alone, Uber and Lyft collect $300M annually by making it hard to comparison shop before booking a ride.
www.nber.org/papers/w34441
www.nber.org/papers/w34441
November 10, 2025 at 2:11 PM
New NBER research finds that in NYC alone, Uber and Lyft collect $300M annually by making it hard to comparison shop before booking a ride.
www.nber.org/papers/w34441
www.nber.org/papers/w34441
@bmj.com, a renowned health journal, slams car bloat:
"Cars are becoming steadily larger, [and] with this comes potential harms to health...Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new SUVs and to reduce their presence in urban areas."
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
"Cars are becoming steadily larger, [and] with this comes potential harms to health...Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new SUVs and to reduce their presence in urban areas."
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
November 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
@bmj.com, a renowned health journal, slams car bloat:
"Cars are becoming steadily larger, [and] with this comes potential harms to health...Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new SUVs and to reduce their presence in urban areas."
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
"Cars are becoming steadily larger, [and] with this comes potential harms to health...Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new SUVs and to reduce their presence in urban areas."
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Tariffs are bad, but I'd have more sympathy for US transit agencies if they weren't inflating the costs of new buses by customizing absolutely everything (and fighting against efforts to lower costs by standardizing designs).
North American bus manufacturers, transit associations brace for new 10% bus tariff
Without relief mechanisms, transit agencies could lose buying power and have to delay climate-driven purchases.
www.masstransitmag.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Tariffs are bad, but I'd have more sympathy for US transit agencies if they weren't inflating the costs of new buses by customizing absolutely everything (and fighting against efforts to lower costs by standardizing designs).
Reposted by David Zipper
Would also put failure to prioritize Northeast Corridor investments; implement any sort of national design guidelines/benchmarks for transit and commuter rail on this list; and dumping the electrification report on the way out the door instead of making it an actual priority.
Sorry, but a lack of support for autonomous vehicles is not among Sec Pete's biggest missed opportunities at USDOT.
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
Pete Buttigieg Admits Biden Administration Should've Done More To Grow Autonomous Vehicles — Says DOGE-Like Department 'Makes Tons Of Sense'
Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that the Biden administration could've done more to drive growth in the adoption of autonomous vehicles in the U.S. Autonomous Driving Tech Is Sa...
finance.yahoo.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Would also put failure to prioritize Northeast Corridor investments; implement any sort of national design guidelines/benchmarks for transit and commuter rail on this list; and dumping the electrification report on the way out the door instead of making it an actual priority.
Sorry, but a lack of support for autonomous vehicles is not among Sec Pete's biggest missed opportunities at USDOT.
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
Pete Buttigieg Admits Biden Administration Should've Done More To Grow Autonomous Vehicles — Says DOGE-Like Department 'Makes Tons Of Sense'
Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that the Biden administration could've done more to drive growth in the adoption of autonomous vehicles in the U.S. Autonomous Driving Tech Is Sa...
finance.yahoo.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Sorry, but a lack of support for autonomous vehicles is not among Sec Pete's biggest missed opportunities at USDOT.
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
For instance:
🔹 Failure to stop Tesla from lying about Autopilot, FSD, etc
🔹 Failure to curb car bloat
🔹 Continuing to spend fed $$ on highway expansions that won't fix congestion
Reposted by David Zipper
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 AM
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
“Unlike the car, the e-cargo bike afforded a unique sensitivity to the natural world and local environment [that] enabled parents to train their children in local geography and responsible mobility.”
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RW2MT...
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RW2MT...
November 4, 2025 at 10:58 PM
“Unlike the car, the e-cargo bike afforded a unique sensitivity to the natural world and local environment [that] enabled parents to train their children in local geography and responsible mobility.”
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RW2MT...
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RW2MT...
“The higher the exposure to PM2.5, the greater the extent of Alzheimer’s disease."
What the Air You Breathe May Be Doing to Your Brain
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM
“The higher the exposure to PM2.5, the greater the extent of Alzheimer’s disease."
I respectfully disagree with Yonah here.
Reducing driving is a more important transportation goal than increasing transit ridership (for emissions, street space reallocation, etc).
Studies consistently show that eliminating fares doesn’t affect car use.
Reducing driving is a more important transportation goal than increasing transit ridership (for emissions, street space reallocation, etc).
Studies consistently show that eliminating fares doesn’t affect car use.
Alexandria & Richmond, Virginia have both implemented free bus service, as Mamdani has proposed.
They have also succeeded in increasing ridership—as of latest data, their ridership in 2025 is 31% & 25% higher than in 2019, respectively.
Overall US transit ridership is 20% lower in 2025 than 2019.
They have also succeeded in increasing ridership—as of latest data, their ridership in 2025 is 31% & 25% higher than in 2019, respectively.
Overall US transit ridership is 20% lower in 2025 than 2019.
Abigail Spanberger takes a swipe at Mamdani, saying "maybe he should be a Democrat" and that his campaign promises are dishonest.
November 3, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I respectfully disagree with Yonah here.
Reducing driving is a more important transportation goal than increasing transit ridership (for emissions, street space reallocation, etc).
Studies consistently show that eliminating fares doesn’t affect car use.
Reducing driving is a more important transportation goal than increasing transit ridership (for emissions, street space reallocation, etc).
Studies consistently show that eliminating fares doesn’t affect car use.
Is Barcelona the most bike-friendly city on the Mediterranean?
Nowhere else I’ve been comes even close.
Nowhere else I’ve been comes even close.
November 2, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Is Barcelona the most bike-friendly city on the Mediterranean?
Nowhere else I’ve been comes even close.
Nowhere else I’ve been comes even close.