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Even James May’s had enough: Cars are not for cities
April 8, 2025
Well, here’s a plot twist no one saw coming: James May – yes, that James May – has finally said what many of us have been shouting into traffic fumes for years. Cars don’t belong in cities. Not just that they’re a bit annoying, or need managing – but that, deep down, they simply don’t fit.
In a recent interview with the London Cycling Campaign, the former Top Gear presenter and connoisseur of all things with an engine, said driving in London felt like a “totally pointless activity.” “It spoils cars for me,” he said. “It makes them boring and annoying.”
Coming from one of the former high priests of car culture, that’s not nothing.
May isn’t the first to reach this conclusion, of course. Urban transport researchers, campaigners, and anyone who's tried to push a buggy along a pavement strewn with badly parked motors knows cars are fundamentally unsuited to the complex, compact ecosystems that are modern cities. They’re too dangerous, too polluting, and simply too numerous for the space they’re trying to dominate.
But when a voice like May’s joins the chorus – especially one canonised in the motoring world – it feels like something is shifting.
From motormouth to microphone-drop
It’s not just that May admits he avoids driving in London – he actively hates it. And he’s not afraid to call out the absurdity of short car trips. “It amazes me that people go to the shops a mile away in the car,” he says.
He even suggested turning Hammersmith Bridge – currently closed to motor traffic due to the extortionate cost of restoring it – into a car-free crossing, “like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.” I mean, we can dream.
May owns over two dozen bikes, including a few he built himself. He describes cycling as “a joy,” evoking the freedom of childhood. It’s hard not to picture the archetypal British dad rediscovering his Raleigh Burner and feeling something stir.
Even his digs at cycling campaigners – that they should be “less po-faced” and “more humorous” – are delivered with the kind of affection that suggests he’s firmly on side. He knows the joy of a bike ride. He just wants the revolution to come with a punchline or two.
Of course, May isn’t responsible for Britain’s obsession with cars. But it’s hard not to see how TV shows like Top Gear helped prolong the notion that cars equal freedom, status, masculinity – myths that will one day line the hard shoulder of history like clapped-out Vauxhall Corsas.
What’s rarely acknowledged in government transport policy – and what May seems to understand – is just how expensive this love affair really is. And not just financially.
New research from Sweden estimates the true lifetime cost of car ownership at nearly £500,000 – and staggeringly, 41% of that burden falls on society. That’s your air pollution, your road deaths, your climate emissions, your congestion, your NHS bills. The maths simply does not stack up.
Compare that to figures from Norway, where every extra kilometre walked saves society €4.2 in health benefits. Cycling? €2.8 per km. These numbers should be tattooed on every Department for Transport press release – yet instead, we continue to pour billions into road expansion schemes that only make the problem worse.
May’s outburst isn’t just entertaining; it’s emblematic of a growing truth. Cars in cities are no longer convenient. They’re chaotic. They don’t move people efficiently. They damage our health, our climate, and increasingly, our collective patience.
And if you’re wondering whether this is all a bit pie-in-the-sky, consider the Netherlands — a country with a 50-year head start in making cities work for people, not just cars. Yet even there, the work isn’t done. According to Vim Bot from the Dutch Fietsersbond (Cyclists’ Union), the mission is ongoing: “There’s no real room for cars in cities. They are not made for cities, cities are not made for cars.”
With around 5 million people cycling daily in a country of 17 million, they’re not exactly lacking experience. Their focus now? Slowing cars further, and giving more space to people on foot and on bikes. It’s a vision we could borrow from - assuming we’re ready to get out of first gear.
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