What's up Chicago? I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City. Last episode, the question we

answered was about city streets. Specifically, things that Chicago builds on them, like speed

humps, extended curbs, and those tiny little neighborhood traffic circles. The goal of all of these things is to slow you down,

which goes against the desire to, you know, get to work as fast as possible.

So what gives?

Basically, slowing down vehicles just makes everything safer.

That's Daniel Knowles. He wrote a book called Carmageddon with a very direct subtitle, How Cars Make Life Worse

and What to Do About It.

Daniel says people will almost always choose to drive.

People will always drive if it's the most convenient or the quickest way.

I mean, that's just

what people will do. And you can't exhort people to change. You have to kind of change the

incentives. We're going to talk to Daniel about the incentives we are given to choose a car

and how to change them. We're also going to talk about why he thinks you probably overestimate how much you need a car.

But first, that need for speed is deeply ingrained, and our team here at Curiosity is not immune.

So we're going to explore, in an unscientific way, another question.

What's the fastest way to get to work?

Okay, so right now we're at the Garfield Park Conservatory and traffic is picking up.

I can tell.

To answer that question, and in the grand spirit of public radio, we held a good old-fashioned transit race.

On a Monday morning, bright and early, the birds are chirping.

Our team, myself, Justin Bull, Susie On, all met up early on a Monday morning at a neutral location

...