About Me
Critical Mass is a bike ride typically held on the last Friday of every month in cities around the world where bicyclists and, less frequently, skateboarders, roller bladers, roller skaters and other self-propelled commuters take to the streets en masse. Critical Mass is not led, and has no officially-stated message, though it is largely understood to be an effort to promote alternative (non-motorized) modes of transportation and to raise awareness about the safety issues that face commuters using non-motorized forms of transportation when sharing the streets with motor vehicles. Participants meet at a set location and time and enjoy the security and companionship of traveling as a group through city streets. This can cause a disruption of motorized traffic, but the general philosophy behind the ride is expressed in the widely-used slogan, "We aren't blocking traffic; we are traffic."Critical Mass rides are self-organized, non-commercial and non-competitive, and they operate with diffused and informal decision-making, independent of "LEADERS". They are often also unofficial, foregoing permits and official sanction from municipal authorities. Usually only the meeting place, date and time are fixed. In some cities, the route, finishing point, or attractions along the way may be planned ahead. Participants demonstrate the advantages of cycling in a city, and show how the city may be failing cyclists in terms of facilities and safety.Critical Mass rides have been perceived as protest activities. For instance, a 2006 New Yorker magazine article described Critical Mass's activity in New York City as "monthly political-protest rides", and characterized Critical Mass as a part of a social movement; and the UK e-zine Urban75, which advertises as well as publishes photographs of the Critical Mass event in London, describes this as "the monthly protest by cyclists reclaiming the streets of London". However, Critical Mass has insisted that its events should be viewed as "celebrations" and spontaneous gatherings, and not as protests or organized demonstrations. This stance allows Critical Mass to argue a legal position that its events can occur without advance notification of local police.Critical Mass rides vary greatly in many respects, including frequency and number of participants. For example, in what have been the largest events using the name Critical Mass, cyclists in Budapest, Hungary hold only two rides each year on 22 September (International Car Free Day) and 22 April (Earth Day). They attract tens of thousands of riders. The April 22, 2006 Budapest ride participation was generally estimated at 32,000 riders
The term "critical mass" was adopted from an observation made by American human powered vehicle and pedicab designer George Bliss while visiting China. He noted that in traffic in China, both motorists and bicyclists 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.
