Straphanger ― Saving Our Cities From Cars

CBC's Anthony Germain interviews Taras Grescoe on The Current. Cars are ruining cities. That's the premise of Taras Grescoe's new book, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile. And if North America doesn't aggressively change its transit course, cities like Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto could be in big trouble.

Grescoe travelled to cities around the world -- including New York, Moscow, Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Bogotá and Philadelphia -- to see how they are dealing with transit issues. A self-proclaimed "straphanger" -- that is, someone who relies on public transportation to get around -- 45-year-old Grescoe has never owned a car. "I rely on transit for the day-to-day travel in the city I live in, Montreal, and I ride a bike and I walk," he explained to The Current guest host Anthony Germain in a recent interview. "I put that filter on and visited 12 cities around the world...that process allowed me to see some interesting things." CBC Books - Saving our cities from cars