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How to make a CRITICAL MASS Lessons and
Ideas from the San Francisco Experience
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 Illustration by Jim Swanson |
| INTRODUCTION
"What’s this all about?" ask
amused and bemused pedestrians on Market Street as hundreds of noisy,
high-spirited bicyclists ride past, yelling and ringing their bells. There
are a wide variety of answers: "It’s about banning cars." "It’s
about having fun in the street." "It’s about a more social way of
life." "It’s about asserting our right to the road". "It’s
about solidarity." Critical Mass is many things to many people, and while
many concepts expressed may evoke memories of past political protests,
Critical Mass is foremost a celebration, not a protest.
Critical Mass got started in September
1992 in San Francisco as a way to bring these various populations together
in a festive re-claiming of public space. The idea was initially conceived
by one person, who bounced the idea off other cyclists. San Francisco’s
prominent bicycle messenger community was enlisted primarily through word
of mouth, while commuters were reached by someone standing in the middle
of the financial district passing out flyers.
Beginning rather under a less catchy
name—the Commute Clot—the ride drew an initial crowd of 60
cyclists, and these numbers doubled for several months following. Critical
Mass has continued and grown in San Francisco, drawing about 700+ from
month to month, with an October 1993 high of 1000+, but it has spread
to other cities as well. With independent rides springing up all over
the place (list of cities), Critical Mass has begun to take on the character
of a large scale, decentralized grassroots movement!
Ultimately, Critical Mass is just a
bunch of cyclists riding around together, going from one point to another.
(Someone coined the descriptive phrase "organized coincidence.") But the
incredible thing is that, in attempting this simple task, so many important
and interesting questions come up. Why is there so little open space in
our cities where people can relax and interact, free from the incessant
buying and selling of ordinary life? Why are people compelled to organize
their lives around having a car? What would an alternative future look
like?
In writing this pamphlet, we have not
set out to answer these questions. Instead, we are using our familiarity
with only one of the many Critical Mass rides (San Francisco’s)
to help accelerate the spread of Critical Mass to other cities, and share
ideas tactics, solutions, etc. We hope that a small, inexpensive and easily
reproduced pamphlet would go a long way toward providing interested parties
with the information and materials they need to set up their own ride.
It is important to emphasize, however,
that no two rides will be identical, and while Critical Mass may be a
common approach to a common problem, different contexts will produce different
dynamics, pressures, etc. This pamphlet, then, is in no way intended as
an "official blueprint" or strict set of guidelines set forth by some
all-knowing committee. Rather, it is simply the brainchild of a small
handful of Critical Mass enthusiasts in the Bay Area, and it will inevitably
reflect our experiences, prejudices and beliefs.
Pre-ride planning
It should be relatively easy to set
up a Critical Mass ride. Whether they are commuters, couriers, or ride
just for the fun of it, every city has a population of bicyclists that
are marginalized and threatened by the current transportation system.
Perhaps more importantly, these groups are just the tip of the iceberg.
Poor air quality, environmental degradation and the general decay of living
conditions due to over-reliance on motorized traffic in urban areas are
felt by everyone. There is a potential mass base for change in all these
scattered, isolated groups, and a Critical Mass ride can serve as a rallying
point to bring them together.
Xerocracy
In San Francisco the organization of
the event has been as much a part of its success as anything else. Organizational
politics, with its official leaders, demands, etc., has been eschewed
in favor of a more decentralized system. There is no one in charge. Ideas
are spread, routes shared, and consensus sought through the ubiquitous
copy machines on every job or at copy shops in every neighborhood—a
"Xerocracy", in which anyone is free to make copies of their ideas and
pass them around. Leaflets, flyers, stickers and ‘zines all circulate
madly both before, during and after the ride, rendering leaders unnecessary
by ensuring that strategies and tactics are understood by as many people
as posssible.
Xerocracy promotes freedom and undercuts
hierarchy because the mission is not set by a few in charge, but rather
is broadly defined by its participants. The ride is not narrowly seen
as an attempt to lobby for more bike lanes (although that goal exists)
or to protest this or that aspect of the social order (although such sentiments
are often expressed). Rather, each person is free to invent his or her
own reasons for participating and is also free to share those ideas with
others. Some people are there to promote human powered transportation
as a viable alternative, others seek the respect of motorists and city
planners and some take part simply because they like riding bikes and
feeling a sense of community with all the other cyclists on the Critical
Mass ride.
This "organic system" doesn’t
lead to chaos, but rather a festive, celebratory atmosphere. Great pains
have been taken to avoid the common pitfalls of other movements, with
much Xerocratic space being devoted to arguments against moralizing attacks
on motorists and other unproductive tendencies. By presenting bicycling
as a fun, positive alternative to the dreary destructiveness of car culture,
Critical Mass has gained immeasurably.
GETTING THE WORD OUT
Getting the word out is the first step.
Flyers are a quick, cheap way to reach a large number of people. With
a few friends and a copy machine, you can have your area saturated with
Critical Mass announcements within a few days. However, the public walls
of most cities have already been plastered with so many announcements
that alternative strategies are useful.
• Thin strips of xeroxed flyers
can be attached to bicycles around town.
• Small stickers can be put on
anything bicyclists lock their bikes to.
• Bicycle stores and bike-friendly
businesses can be asked to put flyers in their windows.
• Word of mouth, announcements
by friendly local radio DJs,on stage in clubs, etc.
WHERE AND WHEN TO START
The preliminary steps to setting up
a ride are fairly straight forward: pick a time, place and route. Beginning
the ride in some downtown area is obviously a good choice, since so many
bicyclists and commuters are already there. A well-known public area,
easily accesible to most bicyclists, where large numbers of people can
congregate before the ride is perfect. (In San Francisco, Critical Mass
leaves from a plaza adjacent to the financial district, which is conveniently
located at the foot of the main traffic corridor.)
Choosing a time is even easier: you
want to meet in the early evening, say 5:30, both in order to accommodate
bicycle commuters who are on the streets anyway, and to gain visibility
by making sure Critical Mass is part of the rush hour traffic. Having
Critical Mass fall on a Friday marks it as the beginning of the weekend,
and contributes to the celebratory feel of the ride. And what better Friday
for the event to take place than the last Friday of the month? If Critical
Mass continues to spread, the day may come when, on the last Friday of
the month, the sun is always setting on a Critical Mass ride!
It is important that the meeting time
and place remain constant, so that it is as easy for people to take part
on a regular basis, and more people can join in as the ride becomes a
regular event.
PLANNING A ROUTE
Picking a safe, entertaining route
is integral to keeping Critical Mass novel and fun. There are several
things to consider when planning a route:
SAFETY
• Bicyclists of varying skills
will be taking part; planning a ride with lots of difficult hills or a
very long distance is not a good idea.
• The streets chosen should be
large enough to accommodate large numbers of cyclists. (One way streets
are especially good.)
• Keep it simple. A complicated
route that veers all over the place might look fun on paper, but will
prove to be unworkable on the ride. People need to be able to read and
easily memorize the route, so they know where they’re going and
what the ride is doing.
PLEASURE
• Varying the route from month
to month makes each ride a bit of an adventure, and reaches a wider spectrum
of people.
• The mood of the ride is influenced
by the area cycled through. A ride through a downtown area, where whoops
and hollers can echo off tall buildings, and there is a population of
motorists and bystanders to interact with, will create a more festive
mood than a ride through an industrial or suburban area. The latter two
tend to quiet down the ride, which could be used to vary the mood. It’s
up to you.
• Have an end point, such as
a park or bar, where there’s the possibility for cyclists to socialize
after the ride.
XEROCRATIC AESTHETICS: If you want
to communicate, make it easy to read!
Make sure the fliers passed out to
participants are readable and tell people what they need to know about
the ride. For instance, if there is a tricky intersection, or dangerous
train tracks on the route, point it out on the map. Doing the route flyer
on a computer can make things easier (if you’re computer literate,
and has the advantage of being easy to read and reproduce). The route
sheet can also double as an informational bulletin/newsletter, with troubleshooting
ideas, news from the last ride, and ideas for future rides.
As the San Francisco Critical Mass
grew beyond the point where a single bicyclist could see both front and
tail of the ride (about 300+), a xerocratic publication, Critical Mass
Missives, started to appear. It contains happenings on the previous ride,
news of other Mass’s around the world and discusses problems within
or concerning the ride.
TRAFFIC TACTICS
When bicyclists take to the streets
en masse, there will be a certain percentage of motorists who will not
be amused. These motorists—a minority, to be sure—will have
a hard time seeing a group of bicyclists as legitimate traffic, and may
insist on forcing their way through the crowd. The interference of these
frustrated individuals, trapped as they are in their cars, are a CONSTANT
problem for Critical Mass. Tactics have to be developed, understood, and
implemented by as many people as possible in order to ensure that this
problem does not become too much of a drag on an otherwise fun and good-natured
ride. Here are the ones we’ve found work.
DENSITY—STAY TOGETHER!
Think of Critical Mass as a density.
It works by forming a mass of bicyclists so dense and tight that it simply
displaces cars. Anytime the ride begins to spread too thin, with areas
large enough for a car to drive into, you have a potential trouble spot
developing.
The simplest and easiest way to deal
with this problem is to encourage people to be aware of what’s going
on around them, and to act when they see things go awry. If a gap large
enough for a car develops, someone needs to ride into it and call over
a friend. If the head of the ride moves too fast and the Mass becomes
too thin, someone in front needs to call out for people to slow down,
and for the ride to regroup. The same goes for those at the tail of the
ride, who may be riding so slow that the ride, again, spreads too thin.
Diagrams on the route sheet pointing out trouble areas and regrouping
points are a great way to bring all this across.
Density is vital in ensuring safety
and a solid image of bicycling as practical, safe and fun for the ride’s
participants. When Critical Mass is still passing through an intersection
after the light has turned red, in rush hour traffic, it is important
to justify the long wait for cross traffic by maintaining a steady mass
of bicyclists riding through the intersection.
CORKS
Corks are the diplomats of the ride.
Their title comes from their function. Here’s how they work: one
or two bicyclists block each lane of oncoming traffic as the ride goes
through an intersection, making sure that even if a gap large enough for
a car to drive through should develop, cars are stopped where they are.
This tactic is especially effective if the cork takes a friendly, non-antagonistic
stance with motorists, even holding up signs that say "thanks for waiting"
and "honk if you like bikes!" Corks need to protect the rear of the ride,
too, from cars turning into it. Of course, no one needs to be officially
designated as a cork, and people will largely take on this role of their
own initiative.
Red Lights
Should Critical Mass obey the same
traffic laws that motorized traffic follows? Yes and no. For the most
part, traffic laws were made for cars, as anyone who routinely bicycles
through stop signs can attest, and they certainly weren’t written
with large groups of bicyclists in mind. So the answer to this question
is obvious: Critical Mass should bend or ignore existing traffic laws
where the group’s safety and effectiveness will be served, and follow
the law where it serves our interests and needs.
Red lights are a perfect example of
this principle. When the head of the ride reaches a red light, it only
makes sense to stop. This way, a) no one endangers themselves by riding
into oncoming traffic, b) we allow motorists the simple courtesy of their
right of way, and c) we give ourselves an opportunity to stop, regroup
and form a solid Mass. But if, as Critical Mass passes through an intersection,
the light changes, it does not make sense to break into two groups, and
the ride should just continue through the intersection, shielded from
the waiting cars by corks.
Breaking Mass
When the Mass thins out too much to
justify holding an intersection through a red light, it can be useful
for someone to yell out "BREAK MASS!" The first section of Critical Mass
would continue through the intersection and the second part would wait
for the light to turn green. If all goes well, the two groups will be
reunited at the next light. This tactic is most often used when the Mass
gets larger and less cohesive.
Flyers
As the ride goes along, people on the
street, waiting at bus stops or sitting in their cars will want to know
what’s going on. You won’t be able to stop and talk with all
of them, and you’d be hard pressed to fit it all into one sentence
even if you could. So for anyone that is curious, it really helps to have
a small flyer made out that lets people know what Critical Mass is, why
we feel this action is necessary, and that invites them to the next ride.
These flyers can be made to fit three
to an 8 1/2 sheet of paper so that they’re inexpensive and can fit
well in your back pocket. Pass them out at the beginning of the ride,
make sure that anyone who is interested has a stack to give out, and watch
as they get passed out to hundreds of people who otherwise would have
never heard of Critical Mass!
Those who hand out flyers along the
route are the real diplomats of the ride. Often the face-to-face contact
by these cyclists and occasional rollerbladers have been especially helpful
in diffusing tense situations arising from an angry car driver who has
been made to wait. A cyclist will roll up to these frustrated commuters
and explain the ride while handing them a flyer. This shows people you’ve
thought of them a bit, and it buys you some time as they digest the tract
while the ride proceeds.
Like the corks, flyer distributors
lend an air of self-control to the ride for motorists and pedestrians.
Corking and flyer distribution is usually done on an ad-hoc basis, as
needed, by cyclists who decide spontaneously to fill those gaps.
KNOW THE LAW
The above planning is the skeleton
of what the Mass needs in order to be as enjoyable and carefree as it
is. However, other issues arise as soon as bicyclists, hundreds of bicyclists,
hit the streets. Should Critical Mass obey the same traffic laws that
motorized traffic follows? For the most part, traffic laws were made for
cars, as anyone who routinely bicycles through stop signs can attest,
and they certainly weren’t written with large groups of bicyclists
in mind. So the answer to this question is Critical Mass should bend or
ignore existing traffic laws where the group’s safety and effectiveness
will be served.
Traffic laws vary from state to state
and city to city. Find out what the Vehicle Code says about bikes in your
area. Know your rights; in California bicyclists "enjoy" all the rights
and responsibilities of motor vehicles. Knowing the truth about what is
in the book and being able to correct those who quote it wrongly empowers
the riders on Critical Mass. You can obtain a traffic rules and regulations
book at a Department of Motor Vehicles office.
TESTOSTERONE BRIGADE
What kind of approach do we take toward
people who choose to drive, or who happen to be stuck in cars, maybe for
business, when the ride passes? Just as important as devising strategies
to deal with hostile motorists is the need to deal with those in the ride
who may provoke them.
For some bicyclists, Critical Mass
is an opportunity to berate motorists, now that WE own the road for once.
Our society’s over-reliance on motorized traffic is a massive and
overwhelming social problem, and it won’t be changed through the
use of bitchy, ineffective tactics by a small minority of pissed-off bicyclists.
But a movement for change based on a reclaiming of public space and the
building of human community, open to people from across the social and
political spectrum, could contribute to a deeper and more fundamental
change in the way our society operates.
VANGUARDS
One of the important things to realize
is that the Mass will tend to follow whoever is is front, whether they
have a clear idea of where they’re going or not. "Vanguard" types,
frustrated that their self-destructive antics are not put up with in the
middle of the ride, will generally sprint ahead of the ride, go through
red lights when it isn’t necessary, and try to block as much traffic
as possible. Or, they may decide to lead the ride off the agreed route.
What happens then is that the head
of the ride goes too fast, the ride spreads out, cars get in the middle
of the ride, no one has any idea what is going on, dangerous situations
occur pretty rapidly, and your Critical Mass becomes a Critical Mess.
The way to counter this is to get two
or three friends at the head of the ride who have some idea of what the
route is and, more importantly, are committed to staying in a group. If
you all stick together as a clump, you can influence the course of the
ride by riding slowly, speaking out where neccessary, and trying to keep
everyone together. If you do this, you have to be prepared to take a certain
amount of shit from people who may see you as someone imposing your ideas
on everyone else. But speaking your mind and actively asserting your initiative
is not akin to being authoritarian—in fact, it’s the essence
of democracy.
SNAILS
Snails are a group of antagonistic
bicyclists who poke slowly behind the rest of the mass. This dawdling
causes the mass to thin out and anger car drivers who are waiting for
the ride to progress through the intersection or who are behind the mass
and impatient for the mass get moving.
Again, make your opinion known and
be comfortable with that type of interaction. Remember, these people are
not out to have the best time for the greatest numbers. They are selfishly
antagonizing motorists and destroying any positive association that the
drivers once might have had when the rest of the jovial mass passed them.
COPS
Public demonstrations tend to make
the government look bad, since they vividly show that the government does
not always represent or have the support of the people. Naturally, the
police are concerned about popular demonstrations, and they generally
take one of two approaches: either they attack the demonstration—exposing
the force on which this society is based—or they attempt to portray
themselves as the demonstration’s sponsors and diligent protectors.
With the Bay Area Critical Mass rides,
they have generally taken the second, paternalistic approach, allowing
the ride to take place, blocking traffic for us and making sure their
presence is felt as an "escort". On one occassion they even went so far
as to announce over a bullhorn before the ride "Welcome to this event!"—an
outsider might have surmised that the whole thing was planned and executed
by the police themselves!
When police begin to arrest people
or hassle riders, they are trying to provoke a confrontation which will
justify a repressive crackdown—a confrontation in which their victory
is almost guaranteed. It is important not to take them up on the offer.
When the police demand that the ride move into the right lane, do it.
Then, when the coast is clear, go back. After a few more attempts to control
the ride, the police usually give in and realize, short of arresting everyone,
there’s little they can do except ride along and actually act like
the public servants they professed to be in the beginning.
The best strategy is to avoid breaking
any laws you don’t have to, try to reason with those individuals
on the ride who display a tendency to get out of hand and don’t
give the police an excuse to stop your ride or bust anybody. Be up front
and above board about the ride. After all, we’re just riding home
together in an organized coincidence, so give the cops the route sheet
if they want one.
As much as they may try to own or control the ride, Critical Mass is a popular movement that operates independently of government regulations, and as such, we don’t have any business with the police (although they may have business with us). Within the anti-authoritarian culture of the bicyclist milieu, refusing the arbitrary commands of the police might make sense. But the best approach to the police presence at Critical Mass is not to engage in some pathetic, losing confrontation, or embrace them as our saviors and protectors. Rather, we should ignore them and get on with the business of trying to build a Mass. This booklet was printed in early 1994 after being produced by an ad-hoc collective consisting of Chris Carlsson, Jim Swanson, Hugh D'Andrade, Kash, Nigel French, Beth Verdekal, Kathy Roberts, and several others... |
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