Adam Tranter

Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.

This is weird because we were told that autonomous vehicles would always follow the rules? sf.gazetteer.co/waymo-has-be...

New YIMBY Pod! In which I get surprisingly mad about the fact that we're spending *millions* on *not* generating electricity. Plus guest @adamtranter.bsky.social explains to me why pavement robots are bad, actually. www.abundancepod.com/p/were-spend...

An @adamtranter.bsky.social rebuttal to Channel 5's E-bikes: the scourge of our streets programme. Why we must stop letting the British media decide what our story is and tell it better ourselves: www.cyclingelectric.com/in-depth/cha...

Lisbon is set to suspend its shared electric scooter system, citing improper parking, an increase in the number of accidents, and users riding against the flow of traffic. The next measure expected to be announced on Monday is surely a ban on car traffic…

@nedboulting.bsky.social @adamtranter.bsky.social and I were in the same room for the latest Streets Ahead episode - and it was a delight to record. We hope you enjoy listening! And a big thanks to The Running Channel for hosting us

🚨New Streets Ahead Episode! Adam, Laura and Ned are all back together IRL. OMG! What does devolution mean for active travel? What's this about a campaigner toolkit? And is there anywhere Ned hasn't been lately? For all this and more, look no further shows.acast.com/streets-ahea...

At some point a room full of people agreed there was no space on this carriageway for a cycle lane so they settled on this instead.

🚨New Streets Ahead Episode! A day in the life of the City of London cycling police, as Laura shadows the team, out on the streets catching illegal e-motorbikes: shows.acast.com/streets-ahea...

York Street car park in Manchester should be a public garden.

It is wild to think that most cities used to have extensive electric tram systems, capable of efficiently transporting people and producing zero emissions at street level. And they were persuaded it was a good idea to rip them out. Now cities are spending billions putting them back in.

A man who raced over 90mph in a 30mph zone got a £253 fine and a 56-day driving ban. "If these men had caused the same level of endangerment by any other means, it’s hard to believe they would have got off so lightly." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Very reassuring to learn that a blind man who drunk drove 150 miles to Scotland, without a licence or insurance, has been banned from driving for 12 months. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW! "Fine, We're Doing a Helmet Episode." After Mayor Mamdani posted a video showing him wearing a bike helmet, social media exploded. But what are helmets designed to do? Who sets the standards? And what is it about the mere mention of them that causes people to lose their minds? bit.ly/4gFMJub

The American mind cannot comprehend a McDonald’s Drive Thru that explicitly welcomes bicycles and e-scooters. Meanwhile, in Spain: 🍔🚲🛴

Cars are, regrettably, the enemy of efficient public transport.

I really don’t understand why the Government is so eager to let private companies bring these to UK pavements.

Day 1 and already blocking bike lanes.

Britain has a remarkable habit of preventing the very things that make communities sociable, just in case they attract anti-social behaviour. “I’ve made my street beautiful for years. Now the council says I must stop.” www.thetimes.com/article/3cc1...

There's a long-held assumption that celebrities only travel by private chauffeur. David Byrne's ride to Met Gala, Timothée Chalamet's Lime biking and now Cate Blanchett's Brompton getaway show this to be increasingly untrue. We shouldn't be so surprised when people use the best tool for the job.

Three different uses of kerbside space shown in one street: 10 bike share spaces, 6 private cycle parking spaces or parking for just one private car. Transport is about moving as many people as efficiently and sustainably as possible; parking should be prioritised accordingly.

“New attempts to undermine this ancient institution in order to facilitate the mechanised distribution of junk food should therefore concern any intelligent pedestrian.” Excellent piece by on the hideousness of pavement delivery robots. unherd.com/2026/08/the-...

Since @sadiqkhanlondon.bsky.social was elected in 2016, we've delivered a fivefold expansion of London's network of Cycleways to over 450km - enabling millions & millions of greener, cleaner, safer & healthier journeys 🚲🚲🚲 And we're not sitting back in our saddles, there's much more to come...

The planning application and marketing photographs (left): “The site will be a low car development with controlled parking provision. The internal road layout has been designed such that informal on-street parking will not be available.” Versus the reality (right):

Cities dismantled their tram networks to become “motor cities of the future”. The result? You could travel further within 30 mins via public transport in 1957 than you can in 2026. Cities are seeking billions to rebuild networks. Incredible piece of work this.

Illegal parking or pocket park? Which would you prefer? 📸 Largo das Palmeiras, Lisbon.

This police officer understands that a bike modified to reach high speeds via a throttle is a motorcycle, not an e-bike. E-bikes or electrically assisted pedal cycles (EAPCs in law) provide assistance while pedalling to 15.5mph before cutting out. A throttle can support walking mode up to 3.7mph.

Every city should have these cute little electric buses, serving smaller and historic neighbourhoods.

The narrative around autonomous vehicles often frames them as inevitable. But choosing them is a political choice, not a technological certainty. When we treat self-driving cars as the default future, we choose to double down on private, car-centric infrastructure and unsustainable futures.

The UK Government could use the Highways Act to prevent pavement robots from operating at all. Instead, they tacitly allow local trials and are speeding up legislation so we can have many more pavement robots, as in the US. Can’t wait!

Mature trees provide the shade and shelter required to make cities liveable during extreme heat. Given how long it takes for trees to grow enough canopy cover, cities should be urgently planting tens of thousands more of them. 📸 Thermal camera in Lisbon, showing 59.5°C ground.

Tech companies: Our pavement robots are safe for pedestrians and don't get in their way! The robots:

Why I’m Raging Against The Machines Every few years, a technology company promises to fix our cities, and every few years, we discover it has made them worse. open.substack.com/pub/bikeisbe...