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Guests: Professor Alex Karner; Maria Elena Price
I believe many areas of our lives are going to be impacted as funding for programs as well as the institutions that disseminate that funding is pulled by the executive branch.
One of the areas of concern is transportation – especially as it pertains to safety, equity – ooops there’s that hot word – and access. Vulnerable road users and those who rely on transportation other than a car will be negatively impacted and some of the hard work that has been going into remedying past damage done to neighborhoods by wrong thinking on the part of planners is being interrupted or stopped all together.
My guest today is Professor Alex Karner from the U. of Texas in Austin.
I learned about Alex and his work in an article by David Zipper written for Bloomberg News on February 26th. He stated: “Alex Karner got an email from the Transportation Research Board ordering him to stop work on his research project studying equitable access to goods and services.”
Professor Alex Karner was one year into a two-year grant when he received the email from the Transportation Research Board ordering him to stop all work on the project he was overseeing into equitable access to goods and services.
Focusing on accessibility, civil rights and environmental justice, travel demand modeling, and community engagement, Alex brings his background in civil engineering, transportation planning, and history together to look for solutions.
You can follow Alex and his work on his website, alexkarner.com as well as read some of his recent work. There is also the list of the cancelled transportation research projects as of the conversation he and I had.
My second guest today is Maria Elena Price; she and her sister Monica are co-owners 
of Experience Plus Bicycle Tours.
Many years ago, Maria Elena’s Dad, Rick Price the founder of Experience Plus, visited my store in downtown Cleveland along with several of tour company owners for a weekend Touring Open House.
Each tour director gave a short presentation about the company s/he represented and what I remember most about Experience Plus was the emphasis on the language and culture of the tours they offered.
When this new generation took up the reigns, that emphasis didn’t change, and today’s tours are as interesting, varied, and immersive as they were then.
As she said in our conversation, check out ExperiencePlus.com and see some of the information she characterized as over-sharing!
After our conversation, I checked back with Maria Elena to see how the imminent tariffs might affect her company and bicycle tour travel. Here was her response: “I think the exchange rate volatility is going to be the biggest concern for a company like us. As well as major volatility in the market of course. So anything to do with the economy being bouncy is always concerning! In general though I think some people’s appetite for travel abroad may also increase, so we’ll see.
She added that she is hearing fewer people might want to travel TO the U.S. because of the volatility and tariffs.
John is one of my favorite repeat guests as those of you who are regular listeners know. When I want to know what is happening in the Big Apple about sustainability, bike crashes, open streets, and anything else that has to do with urban life, Professor John Surico is my guy. His substack blog “
cycling related products that facilitate a better experience on the bike – whether on the ground or in the gym. 
As he mentioned, you can find him on social media @askthefitter. Check out his line of saddles at 90K.com or go to his website 
We have two great guests on the show today to talk about two timely topics – tariffs and the fires in California.
In the second half of the show, we meet another Steve – yep it’s Steve squared today. 
In the years since its inception, it has grown from aiding 20,351 people in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami to 850,000 bicycles on the ground in 7 African countries and in Colombia, South America.
showed incredible results, WBR lives up to its motto of Empowering individuals to access education, healthcare and economic opportunities through life-changing bicycles.
The Buffalo bike provides a sturdy, reliable machine that offers not only transportation but safety to the thousands of people who ride them.
in 1974 with a $3,000 bank loan and a lot of chutzpah.
That’s not all though. My first guests are husband and wife Deb and Tom Gardner. They live in Indianapolis and have such a great story to tell.
wired exactly the same! 
After a break, we catch up with the president and CEO of People for Bikes, 
array of cycling projects from start to successful finish.
the organization, beginning with member ship and working on the 
With the fall riding season in full swing, we’re bringing you our last great riding trail review for 2024. And, I’ve saved a review of the Southern New England area, especially 
especially in 2024, the effects of the infrastructure act have pushed quite a few projects along helping to add many segments in the quest complete the 3,000+ mile project.
This episode of our show was intended to highlight another great riding trail along with a conversation with renowned traffic engineer and planner Professor Wes Marshall at the University of Colorado in Denver.
options, and a broad observation of what we are getting wrong about the way we not only DO transportation and safety, but how we think about it in the first place.
Before we get to the trail though, my first guest today is . Back in 2011, I spoke with Laura about her then 3-month art project, 
second link to the 
photo of the 
Founded in 1983, the European Cyclists’ Federation is a Brussels-based independent non-profit association dedicated to achieving more and better cycling for all in Europe.
Federation, left the corporate world to pursue a career committed to expanding cycling for everyone everywhere. She’s lived in Europe for 35 years and, although she does have a car, rarely drives it, depending instead upon one of the stable of bikes for transport.
One of my past guests, Scott Kasper, contacted me and wanted to share his experience of the 
Chris is the Empire State Trail Program Manager, living a short distance from one of the trailheads as well as having traversed many a mile on the trail himself.
from Buffalo to Albany; and South from Albany into downtown Manhattan, the Empire State Trail offers some of the most diverse riding opportunities on the east coast. You can access the 
And who best to fill us in on all of this? 
individual stages of a race that both started and ended differently than in the past and, I always learn so much about bike racing when we talk.