Critical Mass is
a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists'
right to the road. The idea started in San Francisco in
September 1992 and quickly spread to cities all over the world. This
site attempts to be the most complete guide to local Critical Mass
rides around the globe.
Critical Mass has a different flavor from city to city --
there's a big variety in size, respect of traffic laws (or lack
thereof), interaction with motorists, and intervention by police. So
if you want to know more about Critical Mass, you'll really need to
find out what your local ride is like. For those who must know more
right now, here's a link to Phoenix, Arizona CM, which I suppose is a "typical" CM ride, if there is such a
thing.
Critical Mass has no leaders, and no central organization
licenses rides. In every city that has a CM ride, some locals
simply picked a date, time, and location for the ride and publicized
it, and thus the ride was born.
CM is an idea and an event, not an organization.You
can't write to "Critical Mass" -- certainly not by writing to me.
Some CM riders try to tie up traffic as much as possible and be
otherwise confrontational with motorists. Such riders are missing
the point about Critical Mass. CM is a celebration of cycling, not a
war against motorists. CM is about asserting our right to the
road, not denying others their right to the road. Those who
want to play juvenile games are encouraged to stay at home
instead.
First Friday @ 5:15 at the brick park
next to Java Jungle on First St.
2000
NY
Albany
Last Friday @ 4:30 at the Monument in
Washington Park (Henery Johnson &
State St.).
Oct '02
Brooklyn
(1) Second Friday @ 7pm at Grand Army
Plaza at the north end of Prospect
Park
(2) Second Friday @ 7pm in the plaza on
the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg
Bridge
PreserveNet's
Critical Mass Guide
A listing of local CM pages on the web, and free web
pages for local CM groups that don't have one.
Critical Mass Arrests. CM made international news
twice when police wrongly arrested many cyclists, on 7-25-97
in San Francisco and on 8-00 in Los Angeles. (Bad arrests
have happened at many other CM rides, but only these two
were major media stories.) Check out websites about the
San Francisco and
Los
Angeles incidents.
Car
Busters International group based in Europe working towards a
car-free society. They publish a hot magazine ("Car
Busters") and email newsletter, and sponsor World Car-Free
Day every September.
Car-Free
Cities These folks advocate for car-free cities in a
well-researched and professional manner.
Car-Free City
US A group working to create a car-free city in the
U.S.
(Planning
a) Car-Free Day Large, well-organized site which details how to plan a
Car-Free Day in your city.
Culture
Change Documents the tremendous environmental, social and
economic damage caused by endless road building. Also
publishes Culture Change magazine (formerly
Auto-Free Times).
Get
out of the bike lane! Posts vigilante photos of autos parked in the bike lane
in Toronto, Canada.
Less
Traffic
Recommends going beyond traffic calming to reduce the number
and speed of cars on the streets.
Reclaim the
Streets (San Francisco, CA US)
A movement which advocates massive street parties, covertly
painting bike lanes onto roadways, and other ways to subvert
the car culture. Here are the RTS pages for London
and Adelaide,
Australia.
Right of
Way (New York City)
Local group asserting cyclist and pedestrian rights over
motorist prerogatives. Has stenciled over 250 street
memorials to car victims and published "Killed By
Automobile" report.
Transportation
Alternatives (New York City)
Local group promoting alternatives to car-based
transportation. This website is HOT! It's a model for other
groups to emulate.
Victoria
Transport Policy Institute Publishes a number of important studies and reports,
such as one explaining how cyclists actually subsidize the
cost of road-building for motorists, a Pavement Buster's
Guide, and much more. For activists who are ready to move
beyond simply riding in Critical Mass rides and actually get
something done in their communities, this site provides
plenty of the ammunition they'll need.
How
much energy we use. Overconsumption of oil means
that more people will die as more wars are fought over an
increasingly shrinking supply. The U.S. alone uses 46% of
all the gasoline used in the world. (more...)
The
true cost of gas. Americans whine about the
"high" price of gas while not realizing what a sweet deal
they're getting.
Pollution by cars causes lung cancer, respiratory
problems, urban smog, and acid rain. Greenhouse gases
emitted by cars causes global warming, which is not just a
concern for the future, it's happening right now. (more...)
The True Costs of Cars
Autos
on Welfare. While most motorists think that
their gas taxes and registration fees pay for the roads and
for other related costs, the truth is that infrastructure is
financed mostly by general taxes paid by everyone, which
means that those who don't drive are subsidizing those who
do.
Societal
costs of cars & highways. Our
relationship with the automobile causes pollution, noise,
congestion, sprawl, big expenses, injury, and even death.
The cost is greater than we realize....
The typical American family
spends almost $8000 a year to own and operate a
car, when you count the car payments, gas, oil,
maintenance & repairs, licenses, parking, and
insurance.
If you took the money you'd save by getting rid of your
car and invested it you could have $2.3 million by
the time you retired. (more...)
Art Ludwig shows that AAA underestimates the cost of car
use. (more...)
Bad Motorists
Tracking License Plates. PublicData.com
lets users find the owner of vehicles by typing in the
license plate number. Their databases cover vehicles from
Texas and several other states. Subscriptions start at
$25/year. And PlateWire
lets readers enter in a license plate and a description of
reckless behavior by the driver.
Tagging SUV's. A citizen on the west coast has a
project of putting bumper stickers on SUV's that say "I'm
changing the climate!" Check out his website at ChangingTheClimate.com.
East coast activists have also made "tickets"
to put on SUV's. And Brooklyn activists have erected
"No
SUV Parking" signs, and then "ticketed" the
offenders.
Driving
While Drowsy. The Sleep Foundation covers the
problem of motorists driving while drowsy.
Motorists
running red lights. Motorists are quick to
claim that cyclists don't deserve respect on the road unless
they follow traffic laws. It would be nice if they applied
that same litmus test to other motorists. While cyclists and
motorists both break the law, when motorists do it they kill
people.
Bike Advocacy
America
Bikes Lobbies the federal government to support cycling. Also,
see how your elected officials voted on bicycling &
transportation-related issues.
Bikes
Belong's Guide to Advocacy This national coalition group has published an online
guide for doing bike advocacy work in your community, with
an emphasis on using federal money for bike-friendly
transportation projects.
Bike
Summer
Bike Summer is an annual bike festival with rides, activist
workshops, and fun events, occurring in a different city
every year. Past host cities were: Los Angeles (2005),
Seattle (2004), New York (2003), Portland (2002), Vancouver
(2001), Chicago (2000), and San Francisco (1999). Activists
are encouraged to hold Bike Summers in their own cities.
Bust
Media Bias against Bicycles This site exposes media bias against alternative
transportation modes, especially the bicycle, and to address
such bias with action, facts, constructive criticism and
humor.
International
Bike Fund Huge advocacy site/organization, with resources about
urban planning, bike to work programs, safety and more. The
group is oddly named, since it has nothing to do with money
or grants.
National
Bicycle Greenway These folks are pushing for a national (U.S.) network of
bike paths for both recreation and transportation. They also
held a BIG ride across the U.S. in the Summer of 2000 to
promote the idea.
National
Cycle Network (U.K.) 5000 miles (with more to come) of continuous routes,
running right through urban centres and reaching all parts
of the UK (eventually passing within 2 miles of half the
population). Almost half the Network will be entirely
traffic-free, built along old railway lines, canal towpaths,
forestry tracks riversides and urban space.
Velo Mondial
2006 Conference
An international conference to support and plan for
transportation cycling. The conference is held every six
years, and the 2006 version will be held in Cape Town, South
Africa in March.
BikeLane.com More links than you can shake a kickstand
at about every cycling issue imaginable, and thankfully
organized into different sections.
BikeForums.net
| CyclingForums.com
Web-based discussion groups (not email-based) for a
large variety of specialized biking topics, including
Advocacy, Bike Mechanics, Bike Messengers, Commuting,
Handcycling, Safety, Women's Cycling, and more.
Unicycling.org For those who prefer to ride with one wheel.
Unusual Bikes: On our
sister site we have a huge list of recumbent bikes
(recliners), adult tricycles, cargo/workbikes, bike cars (4
wheels), trailers, pedicabs, electric scooters, and more.
(see
list)
Machines powered by
bikes:Maya
Pedal makes pedal-powered blenders, water pumps, cofee
depulper, metal sharpener, washing machines, woodsaws,
eectricity generators, and more. Wow!
Critical-Mass.info
