Critical Mass, n.

"the minimum amount or number required for something to happen, begin, etc."

--Webster's New World Dictionary of American English, 3d edition. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1986.

Bicyclists from all over the city have been gathering on the last working Friday of every month for a safe communal "ride home" up Market Street together. Lately the group has grown so large (reaching 5000 in July 1997, and regularly surpassing 500) as to attract the attention--and sometimes the resentment--of automobile commuters not accustomed to sharing the road with smaller vehicles. It's also won the attention of Mayor Willie Brown and other local leaders, and several solutions, ranging from arresting all the riders to larger and wilder protests, have been proposed, but none have met with broad support.

Dispersed Neighborhood Critical Mass?

We think so. Critical Mass, though it hasn't convinced the city to build bike lanes or close Market Street to private automobiles or ease bike access to the Bay Bridge, has succeeded in focusing the city's attention on the transportation problems faced by all city residents and workers--bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.

When citizens' rights are being trampled on or completely ignored, they must sometimes hold "inconvenient" civil rights demonstrations (an often-necessary and cherished method of democratic action) to assert their "right of way". But now that the concerns of bicyclists and pedestrians (and anyone trying to get around the Bay Area) are front page news, we believe that larger and rowdier demonstrations may only discredit the participants and delay the kinds of bike-friendly solutions CM riders are asking for.

How can we translate this brief glance from the public into real long-term transportation solutions? If those of us who believe in sane, sustainable transportation start to employ some other less confrontational ways of raising awareness on a weekly--or even daily--basis, maybe we can get achieve Critical Momentum and make progress on the city's transportation needs.

Quotes from Chris Carlsson, one of CM's earliest xerocrats:

"We are drowning in moralism! Worse still, it is a primitive consumer moralism! [This] leads people to ridiculous, philosophically retarded syllogisms like 'Cars Are Bad; You're In A Car; You are Bad.' Motorists are not bad. They are not moral failures, nor thoughtless, greedy or rich, just because they are in a car! ... [L]et's face it, not many people trust, believe in, admire or have any control over oil companies, car companies, government transit bureaucracies, or local transit systems.... Bicycling and other alternatives are self-evidently better than sitting in a traffic jam or waiting for an overcrowded bus. The more we can live up to that truth, the more people will jump in--not because they were made to feel guilty, but because they want the pleasure and increased health and convenience that comes from bicycling. People will get out of their cars and onto bicycles when they think it will make their life better, not because someone tried to make them feel ashamed for participating in an absurd, suicidal transportation system."

"It is a terribly rash assumption that someone stuck in their car is necessarily a big supporter of the status quo. Consider instead the complexities of human choices and constraints and try to create openings in people's minds, rather than assuming that someone who hasn't adopted your choices about what to buy, how to get around, and lifestyles in general is your conscious enemy and deserves your moral condemnation, rage, or self-righteous taunting. It's not easy to proceed politically when we take seriously how difficult, deep and personal are the changes we seek. But pleasure, passion, and patience can bring real progress. Remember, the Americans your scorn today must be your allies tomorrow if you are serious about changing life!"

Both quotes cited are from Jacob Resneck's excellent CM page.

Related sites

• To join the sf-critical-mass mailing list or (other lists on the cycling.org site, like the sf-bike list) mail majordomo@cycling.org with "SUBSCRIBE [list name]" in the body of your message.

• Critical Mass Times

• www.critical-mass.org - an unofficial site on an official domain

• "Viva la Vélorution!" on the bikesummer.org site

• Bennett Hall's Story

• Critical Mass has reached critical mass

• SCREED! from zero to xerocrat at s.f. critical mass

• www.bikelane.com - the WWW Bike Lane

• The Bay Area Progressive Calendar presents a schedule of upcoming rides in the Bay Area

• The Bike the Bridge! Coalition promotes bike access to bridges in the Bay Area and Bike rights in general

• The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition aims to promote the bicycle as a means of everyday transportation in the city.

• Critical Mass: cycling as a political statement

• Critical Mass, San Francisco by Jacob Resneck.

• "Fuming Cyclists Take to the Streets in Protest at Pollution"

• Other Critical Mass groups around the world

• Critical Mass as an "organized coincidence"

• How to make a Critical Mass

• Bicycling over the rainbow: redesigning cities--and beyond by Chris Carlsson, one of the original CM "xerocrats"

• ZPUB's online forum for discussion of "city issues" in SF includes a forum on Critical Mass

• CM and the Law in the UK

• Comments from a 1996 survey of CM riders

• The International Bicycle Fund's Critical Mass page

• Frequently Asked Questions of Critical Mass UK

• Alternative Bikestyles

• some images of Critical Mass SF