The Freewheeling Podcast

Michael Hill used to be a civil servant but now works on policy for the campaign group Britain Remade.
In that role, he’s trying to push through policy changes to get Britain building.
In today’s episode, we talk through the extraordinary degree of political centralisation in the UK and why this is a direct contributor to making it so hard to build new tram lines in the UK.
He gives the current Government a mid-term review and tells me the policy asks from any future new Prime Minister.

My guest this week is a transport changemaker attempting to achieve change in the most populous country on earth.
Ruchita Bansal is a transport and urban planner by background, and is now founder of SheCity.
Her research reveals the extra costs imposed on women by the transport choices of Indian leaders, and the wider impact this has on society and the Indian economy.
In today’s episode, she brings these impacts vividly to life, all set in the context of how Indian cities are designed by leaders not for citizens.

Jonathan Bray was Director of the Urban Transport Group and has spent the last year visiting suburbs all round Europe. He’s just published his findings, and it makes for a fascinating discussion.
He’s clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to making sustainable transport work in suburbs. Instead, it’s all about the questions cities ask and the people they invite into the room when the decisions are taken.
In today’s episode, he takes me on a tour of different examples of best practice in Europe but focuses primarily on getting the questions right.

How can we stop people playing their TikToks out loud?
You can’t say we don’t address the big policy questions on this podcast!
Nevertheless, it’s an issue that really gets to people.
So I’m joined by behavioural science expert Christian Hunt, founder of Human Risk, to figure out what we can do about it…

During the pandemic, Anna Filby was a young transport professional struggling to connect with other young transport professionals.
So she created the Young Mobility Network.
Roll forward six years, it’s been such a success that it’s now her full-time job.
She joins me to discuss the challenges facing young people in our sector, what’s changed since I was starting out in my career and what it was like creating the YMN while holding down a full time job.
We’re also joined by Alessandro Zenati, who runs the London Hub of the Young Mobility Network as a volunteer.