Contentious transport measures (CTM) are defined in this paper as those which reduce the amount of road space available for, or the cost of using, the private car. These measures have been shown to be necessary if a transition to a more sustainable transport system is to take place. Although they are the key decision makers as to whether such measures should be implemented at city level, there is a dearth of research on local politicians’ views on mobility issues in general, and to CTM specifically. This paper addresses this gap by presenting and analysing interviews with local politicians in Sweden, Norway and Spain. It finds that local politicians can be categorised broadly into three groups: those who do not support CTM as they see them as being incompatible with their ideology; those who will support a gradual implementation of such measures; and those for whom there is an urgent need for CTM and that their task is to respond to their voters and lead society towards the transition by implementing CTM even if they are unpopular with some sectors of the electorate. These findings align with earlier work identifying some politicians as radical and some as incremental in their approach to policy change; and the self-definition of politicians as ‘trustees’, leading change as elected representatives, compared to those who see themselves more as ‘delegates’, representing the views of their voters.