Dense housing and public transit: two great tastes that taste better together. You’d think this classic combo would be a no-brainer, as building mid-rise housing helps with affordability and locating it near rail stations lets folks cut down on commuting costs, while putting more commuters near each metro stop leads to improved transit ridership. Talk about a virtuous cycle!

And yet in California, and the nation as a whole, this has been an oddly hard sell. You’ll see rapid transit stations, some over a century old, surrounded by incredibly expensive single family homes. Finally, finally, this is set to change, with Governor Newsom just signing Senate Bill (SB) 79, the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. Championed by state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco,) this hard-fought win comes after nearly a decade of trying, with similar bills not quite making it all the way to the finish line.

On the eve of the bill’s passage, Jonah Bliss caught up with Senator Wiener, to discuss the statecraft that went into creating this landmark legislation, what’s changed to finally get other state leaders ready to embrace more housing, how California can continue to lead the nation, the role he views for the state in an era of a hostile federal government (not to mention a few hostile tech leaders in his home district,) and much more.

This is a must-listen conversation, please do tune in to the full thing (which also includes a few news items of the week: new transit routes, air races and drone regulations, and the role of AI in transportation.

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Managing policy for DoorDash is no mean feat; the globe-spanning 3PD often finds itself interfacing with cities across all sorts of issues: traffic / road safety, merchant relationships, courier behavior and more (and as the company continues to push into new territory — like drones or its in-house delivery bot — the regulatory interactions will only grow.)

That’s why we were delighted to sit down with Max Rettig, Vice President, Head of Global Public Policy at DoorDash, to understand how the company views the policy landscape. Under his leadership, DoorDash has advanced some quite novel policy that has the opportunity — including portable benefits — to ensure gig workers receive health and safety net contributions — that stay with them even as they hop between competing platforms.

Also on the pod… Jonah chats with Sela Musa about driverless trains, the latest spac-tacular startup, Telo trucks, the state of micromobility in the UK, and more. Listen in!

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Delivery is tough work, especially in dense, urban environments. Couriers and policymakers often find themselves pulled between competing priorities: cash-strapped workers often don’t have the resources to invest in a good e-bike, driving them to cheaper alternatives that aren’t reliable enough to get the job done and are prone to dangerous battery fires.

That’s where Whizz comes in, offering courier-oriented e-bike rentals, while bundling in tricky things like maintenance and charging. And while renting is already easier on the wallet, Whizz is working with both the 3PDs and select cities to further subsidize their bikes, putting sustainable options into the hands of those that need it most.

With the Zag Daily podcast now back from its summer break, Jonah caught up with Whizz’s co-founder Mike Peregudov to hear about the company’s latest expansion plans, the lessons he’s learned as he’s scaled the business, what it’s like to work with the big apps and even bigger cities, plus much more. Greg and Jonah also chat about Via’s IPO, while Athena Browning stops by to fill us in on all things connected and aerial.

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Hydrogen is having its moment—not because of hype, but because the economics and demand finally line up. Heavy industry, shipping, and aviation are desperate for clean fuels, governments are throwing serious subsidies behind hydrogen production, and technologies that once seemed speculative are now commercially viable. For early-stage investors, this isn’t a science experiment—it’s a chance to back the picks and shovels of the next energy gold rush.

On today’s episode of Zag Talk, Jonah Bliss joined by Sam Baker, who not only leads the MobilityVC fund, but has spearheaded a new collaboration with the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance to create the MH2Fund. MH2 will back promising early stage hydrogen startups, and we’re kicking things off with a new round of funding for SunGreenH2, a pioneering developer of low-cost, modular green hydrogen electrolysers.

Also on the pod: Greg and Jonah talk Brightline bond troubles, LA’s newest rail lines and much more, while Sela stops by to update us on the UK’s newest twist to its long-running micromobility pilot.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com

On this week’s episode of Zag Talk, I’m joined by Steve Greenfield, General Partner at Automotive Ventures. Steve knows the mobility industry inside and out, having jumped from Manheim, Autotrader and TrueCar to investing in promising startups like Axion Ray, JOCO, Recurrent and SparkCharge.

Steve shares his thoughts on where the industry is headed, but also what he’s found makes for a great entrepreneur, including honesty, integrity, EQ as well as IQ, and the feeling that “you want people that have, somewhere along their journey, found something secret” that they now feel compelled to build or solve.

Also on the pod, Greg and I break down Moove’s $1.2B deal, pontificate on the Department of Sustainable Delivery, and also talk about Also; plus, the Zag team heads to the European AV Summit. Listen in!

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This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Gita Gupta, VP, Director of Emerging Technology and Digital Economies, Global Technology Risk Practice at Lockton, and we go deep on all things risk, insurance, and fraud: three words that might make founders’ eyes glaze over… right up until they’re eating your company alive.

Whether you're scaling a delivery platform, launching a micromobility fleet, or building the next generation of autonomous vehicles, your biggest threat might not be competition — it could be what’s hiding in your terms of service, rider behavior, gig workforce or payout liability. From staged crashes to underinsured drivers, bad actors and blind spots can break even the best product.

Gita walks us through the biggest risks emerging mobility and logistics companies face, how insurance can be strategically positioned, and what founders often get dead wrong about coverage. It’s part cautionary tale, part tactical playbook—and essential listening for anyone building in this space. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t understand risk, you (and your investors) can’t understand your business.

We’ve also got a few more fun items on this week’s show: Greg and I veer from AVs to politics, and the Zag Daily crew heads to Eurobike for the latest and greatest on two and three wheels.

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If you step out onto a street corner in NYC these days, you’ll instantly notice the city is buzzing with delivery workers: couriers zip across streets and sidewalks — not always quite following traffic laws — to deliver food, packages, documents and more. It can be a tough job with low pay, meaning these workers can often only afford the most bare-bones of e-bikes to make their jobs tenable.

That in turn has led to a battery fire crisis: poorly made batteries, beat-up hardware and shady charging situations have culminated in dangerous conflagrations destroying businesses and homes. And in turn, a number of startups have emerged, hoping to provide more reliable charging solutions to keep couriers, and their livelihoods, safe and sound.

On this week’s episode of Zag Talk, Jonah Bliss sat down with PopWheels’ President & Co-Founder David Hammer to hear about his unique path into the hardware space, how to work with cities, fundraising, and the uniquely fun experiences you can have when you’re building a product for delivery workers.

And while Greg and Jonah of course also banter about the week’s news, we’ve got another special feature: Sela Musa stopped by Micromobility Europe to report on all the latest two-wheeled innovations fresh on display in Brussels.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com

From delivery bots, to cargo bikes, scooters and LEVs… our streets have become a hodgepodge of busy little machines, transporting goods and people to their last mile destinations. But keeping those devices charged, and those packages sorted is no easy feat, especially in cities where real estate is at a premium and when officials are especially guarded about fire safety risks.

Tom Schreiber, Founder & CEO of Perch Mobility, has a solution in the form of his eye-catching, modular “Portal” shipping containers, strategically placed in cities like Los Angeles and NYC. But even with marquee customers like Lime and familiar delivery brands, fundraising for a capex-heavy business has proven a challenge. In today’s episode of Zag Talk, Tom and I get into the art of “seed strapping” a business that can outlast the boom-and-bust cycles of the past few years.

Greg and I are also joined by Zag’s Senior Correspondent Sela Musa, as we gab about new economic research on surge pricing, North America’s firsts shared dockless cargo bike, leadership shakeups at Uber and much more. Listen in!

Get show notes and more news at The Curbivore.

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Startup founders often believe so deeply in the mission of their business that they struggle to see how the world could exist any other way. They adopt a mindset akin to “once my product breaks through, all the naysayers will understand they were wrong to doubt its importance.” Or to borrow a phrase from Mark Zuckerberg, they “move fast and break things.”

That may work when it comes to scaling a social media app or SaaS platform, but things are a bit different for products that don’t live solely on your phone. Governments and policymakers set up the regulations that govern our mobility options in response to real problems observed in the past. And as frustrating as that may be to some founders, in the end they’ll usually get better results from working with cities, as opposed to against them.

That’s why, for the latest edition of Zag Talk, Jonah was so excited to sit down with Sam Roxas, co-founder of Common Good Strategies, to talk about how new mobility startups can better engage with the public sector. Before opening up her own policy shop, Samantha worked for the City of San Francisco, the SF Board of Supervisors, congressional leaders and SPUR, then jumping over to startups like WeWork, REEF and Replica.

Beyond Samantha’s sage advice, Greg and Jonah are also joined by Zag editor Ben Hubbard, as we go deep into the past week’s most pressing industry updates.

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Your favorite mobility and delivery podcast is back, but with a whole new twist! Jonah Bliss and Greg Lindsay have teamed up with Zag Daily to bring you Zag Talk, bringing you fresh news, in-depth interviews and witty analysis every two weeks.

To kick things off, we’re chatting with Zach Rash, CEO & Co-Founder of Coco Robotics. Coco and DoorDash just announced a huge new partnership (shared live from the stage at Curbivore 2025.) Jonah Bliss caught up with Zach beforehand, to get his founding story, why he’s set out to solve urban robotics, the company’s latest hardware developments and the economics of its business model.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com