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Fast Forward is a bi-weekly podcast covering the revolution in urban mobility. Hosted by urban researcher Nick Perloff-Giles, each episode features a guest on the front lines of the transformation in transportation, along with fun and incisive commentary on that week’s news.Visit www.comotionla.com to find out more about our flagship gathering convening the top players shaping the future of mobility.
A seven-mile e-bike ride later, your bike-share map has a problem.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical look at city design for the neighborhood trips and caregivers that commute-first models miss.
This episode frames city design around the everyday trips that commute-first transport planning often misses: school runs, errands, care work, and other neighborhood movements that fall heavily on women and caregivers.
A sharp supply-chain look at cleaner cars, from steel emissions to labor standards and disclosure.
Fast Forward looks at transportation technology from the place a car really starts: the materials, factories, and supply chains behind it. Nick Perloff-Giles talks with Abhilasha Bhola about Lead the Charge's automaker ranking, which weighs emissions together with human rights,…
A grounded look at China's infrastructure boom, its productivity logic, and the urban costs that can follow growth.
China's urban transformation is treated as a story of systems, incentives, and daily consequences, not just scale. Lola Wetzel reaches back to her arrival in China in 1986, then traces the push through high-speed rail, major projects, and local development targets.
A clear, brisk look at how China is reshaping the car, the mobility network, and the route to market.
Fast Forward sets Volkswagen's factory pressures beside BYD's rising EU sales, then uses that tension to open up a bigger question: how mobility is being built, sold, and folded into technology ecosystems.
E-bikes widen bike share's reach while pushing operators, utilities, and policymakers to rethink the network.
Fast Forward looks at how affordable, lightweight batteries stretch bike share beyond quick urban errands. Nick Perloff-Giles and Laura Kroll, Senior Policy Manager at Lyft Urban Solutions, frame e-bikes as a way to reach riders who may be carrying bulky loads, managing mobility…
Safety standards meet real-world emergencies.
Professional conversations on safer, smarter mobility.
Tolling, plate cameras and road data, with TTI's editors.
Fast Forward talks with Melissa Bruntlett about why cities built around home-to-work commuting miss the grocery, doctor, and caregiving trips that shape daily life.
Fast Forward centers Lead the Charge's annual automaker ranking and asks Abhilasha Bola of Public Citizen's Climate Program how a "clean car" changes when steel, batteries, human rights, and labor are part of the score.
Lola Wetzel contrasts 1986 Beijing, where Deng Xiaoping was still chairman and private cars were rare, with a 2026 city carrying about 6 million registered vehicles, 12 million daily Metro rides, and a new largest airport terminal.
["Fast Forward opens with Volkswagen's factory pauses and BYD's 250 percent EU sales jump before introducing Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Automobility.", "Russo says China's auto market was seeded by mid-1980s joint ventures, then accelerated after the 2001 WTO accession and the jump to 13.6 million annual vehicle production by 2009.", "He argues that Steve Jobs' 2007 smartphone era and China's app economy pushed the vehicle from a hardware product toward an intelligent connected device with software and user experience at the center.", "The conversation closes on tariffs, overseas factory builds in Hungary, Turkey, and Brazil, and Russo's warning that Western automakers are still underestimating China's system-level approach to mobility."]
Fast Forward host Nick Perloff-Giles talks with Laura Kroll, Senior Policy Manager at Lyft Urban Solutions, about how e-bike electrification is changing bike-share systems.
An interview with Emissions Analytics about decarbonizing transportation quickly and cheaply.
This episode discusses the role of hydrogen fuel cells in the future of zero-emission mobility, covering applications in trucks, aviation, and energy storage.
Host John Rassant discusses big trends in urban mobility with public and private sector leaders Salita Reynolds and Olaf Sackers.
Interview with Daniel Knowles about his book Carmageddon, critiquing car-centric urban design and advocating for better public transit.
Interview with Alex Esposito, CEO of Circuit, discussing the company's electric shuttle service and its impact on urban transportation.