- Matt Farah is one of the most powerful auto influencers in the world. The Smoking Tire, his media platform, has an audience of millions. Farah owns seven cars -- but he is also a fiery supporter of bike lanes, walkability, and upzoning. In @bloomberg.com, my profile of an urbanist car bro
Apr 23, 2025 13:11
- Farah has always been a gearhead, but his a-ha urbanist moment came while building a parking garage for collectible cars. According to LA zoning rules, he had to add an expensive below-ground level of parking. Farah: “Having to build a parking lot for your parking lot is dumb as fucking rocks.”
- Urbanist reformers need allies – esp those who like cars (which is a lot of the USA!). Car guys like Farah could broaden coalitions for change. Farah: “No one likes traffic, but urbanists and car enthusiasts hate traffic even more than regular people.”
- In my experience the overlap of car/bike people is strong. I've got a seven vehicle garage, but five are bicycles so no need to build a underground carpark :)
