- This article is about the public event of bicyclists taking over roadways. For the concept in nuclear physics, critical mass.
Critical Mass is an event held typically on the last Friday of every month in cities around the world, where bicyclists and self-propelled people take to the streets en masse. Critical Mass has no leaders, and no goals other than to meet once every month and enjoy the security of riding, rolling and travelling through the city together. Critics, in particular the auto industry, have claimed that this is a deliberate attempt to obstruct traffic, and cause a disruption of normal city functions. Critical Mass does have the effect of calming city traffic, but Critical Mass riders counter criticisms that they are causing congestion saying "We aren't blocking traffic, we are traffic."
Since rides started in San Francisco in 1992, Critical Mass has had an undeniable effect in exhorting local government and city planners to consider cyclists' needs and facilities in urban planning. It has also since spread to more than 325 cities around the world. In San Francisco, the traditional beginning of the Mass is at Justin Herman Plaza, at the end of Market Street, on the Embarcadero.
On some rides, Critical Mass carry out an action known as "corking", which involves blocking cross traffic so that the riders can freely proceed through red lights. The mass always tries to accommodate and yield for emergency vehicles by splitting through the center when cyclists move over to the left and right sides of the road.
Critical Mass differs from many other social movements in its rhizomal (rather than arboreal) structure. Critical Mass claims to be an "organized coincidence", with no leader, no organizers, and no membership. For example, the term xerocracy was coined to describe the process for how the route for a Critical Mass is decided: Anyone who has an opinion makes their own map, and distributes it to the cyclists participating in the Mass.
Some rides are decided "on the fly" by those at the front of the pack. Other rides are decided on the day of the ride before-hand by a popular vote of suggested routes. Still other rides decide the route by consensus. These methods free up the movement from the overhead costs involved in a hierarchical organisation: no meetings, no structure, no internal politics, and so on. In order for it to exist, all that has to happen is that enough people know about it and turn up on the day to create a 'critical mass' of riders large enough to safely occupy a piece of road to the exclusion of motorized road users.
The term "critical mass" in this sense, was adopted from an observation made by American Human Powered Vehicle and pedicab designer George Bliss while visiting China. He noted that traffic, both motorists and bicyclists, in China had an understood method of negotiating unsignalled intersections. Traffic would "bunch up" at these intersections until the back log reached a "critical mass" at which point that mass would move through the intersection. This description was related in the Ted White documentary Return of the Scorcher (1992) and subsequently adopted by the Critical Mass movement.
After the RNC (2004 Republican National Convention) coincided with the August 2004 NYC Critical Mass, many court cases resulted regarding the legality of the ride. Mainly, whether police have the right to arrest cyclists and seize their bicycles and whether the 'event' needs a permit. In December of 2004, a federal judge threw out the NYC's injunction against Critical Mass as a "political event." [1] On March 23, 2005, NYC filed a lawsuit, seeking to prevent TIME'S UP! from promoting or advertising Critical Mass rides. The lawsuit also stated TIME'S UP! and the general public could not participate in riding or gathering at the Critical Mass bike ride, claiming a permit was required. [2] [3]
Current active rides
Unless otherwise stated, rides are held on the last Friday of every month at 5:30pm.
- Adelaide, at Tarndanyangga
- Boston, at Copley Square.
- Budapest [4], at Heroes' Square.
- Buffalo, New York, at Buffalo City Hall.
- Chicago [5], at Daley Plaza
- Cleveland, Ohio [6], at the North West Quadrant of Public Square
- Columbus, Ohio [7], at the Statehouse lawn.
- Glasgow, at George Square
- Hobart, at Franklin Square
- London [8], 6pm outside National Film Theatre (river entrance), South Bank
- Melbourne, in front of the State Library in Swanston St.
- Moscow [9] (in Russian), rides are held on the last Saturday of every month at 01.00pm starting from Turgenevskaya Square.
- New York [10], 7:00pm at Union Square (north side)
- Philadelphia [11], 5:00pm at City Hall (west side)
- Portland, Oregon [12], North Park Blocks
- Raleigh, North Carolina at the NC State University Bell Tower, 4:30pm
- San Francisco [13]
- Sydney, around fountains in Hyde Park.
- Tallahassee, in front of the state capital building.
- Urbana-Champaign [14]
- Vancouver, British Columbia [15], meet at the Vancouver Art Gallery on the Georgia Street side
- Victoria, British Columbia meet at centenial square
See also
External links