So, What Is Critical Mass?

Nic Fitzgerald

Given carbon emissions, unprecedented fuel prices, the predominance of carparks and roads amongst our public spaces, an obesity crisis and numerous other reasons, Critical Mass is going to be relevant for a long time. Besides there’s simply the good old-fashioned fun of cruising along on a bicycle.

ON FRIDAY 29th August cyclists took to the streets en masse in the monthly celebration of cycling that is Critical Mass. Over 160 folks on bikes (including a unicyclist and a polar bear) met at Franklin Square before riding in convoy around the CBD, through Battery Point and into Salamanca.

While it is no longer remarkable to see the three party leaders together, what is more remarkable is Hodgman, McKim and Bartlett embracing an event which is traditionally a grassroots, non-hierarchical, decentralized ‘organized coincidence’. Indeed Critical Mass is as much about community-building and contesting the motoring paradigm as it is about cyclists’ rights and encouraging bike infrastructure.

“It’s always a positive to see politicians on their bikes, seeing transport through a different lens,” according to Carl, a devoted cyclist. “But Critical Mass is about the community leading the way, showcasing an alternative to agro automobile dominance of our shared spaces.”

“We hope that Critical Mass can form just one avenue of pressure which will encourage politicians to speed up the processes of making cycle transport a possibility for the majority of people in and around Hobart,” explains Liam, from the group Healthy Transport Hobart which invited politicians to join the ride.

It is not the first time that a politician has participated in Hobart CM, but the number and diversity of those attending August’s ride is unprecedented, probably Australia-wide, if not globally. Some of them made statements about the critical need for better cycling infrastructure in Tasmania, something cyclists have been saying for years to little effect. The proof may well be in the pedalling.

Critical Mass occurs in hundreds of cities around the planet and as such it is a variable phenomenon – for instance, an estimated 80 000 cyclists amassed in Budapest for the Earth Day CM in April this year, bikers dress up for the October Halloween CM in New York and other cities, while media hysteria sometimes erupts over ‘traffic chaos’ caused by CM in Melbourne (cyclists often reply: “we are traffic”).

“The best CM rides I have participated in around Australia have been joyous parties on wheels, where the collective is courteous but firm,” says Carl. “When I started riding in CM in Melbourne, I was nervous about the prospect of taking up several lanes and lifting bikes into the air at major intersections. But now I realise that the sense of play and togetherness is absolutely essential to the spirit of CM.”

Perhaps things are different in Tasmania. August’s Mass of 200 cyclists no doubt made an impression on motorists heading home from work, perhaps delaying some by five minutes. However plenty of smiles were evident among cyclists and motorists alike during this spectacle of two-wheeled transport. It is just this sort of intervention in the regular monotony of commuting that CM can achieve, opening a window to an alternative reality rather than seeking confrontation.

“So even though Critical Mass was happening in Hobart, we had our doubts: Was it really sending out a clear message benefiting cyclists and society?” asks Liam.
“One idea we came across is ‘Courteous Mass’, or ‘Civil Ride’,” Liam explains. “Following a set route, to a set destination and promoted as an opportunity for less experienced cyclists to try riding on the streets.”

Along Liverpool and Murray streets things looked more like a Critical Mess when a number of cars became mixed in with the bikes, creating a more hazardous situation than had the cyclists stayed closely together. This is where the Civil Ride differs from the CM model in which the cyclists stay together as one tight bunch, continuing to stream through a red light in preference to fragmenting the group.

Some cyclists have expressed concern about the loss of spontaneity and empowerment that comes from a precisely planned ride with the police leading and directing the mass of human-powered transport. Organisations such as Bicycling Tasmania and Cycling South already organise group rides and engage in political lobbying, they argue. Critical Mass fills a different niche in the spectrum of cycling culture. “Will we see better social change through polite acquiescence, or firm and friendly consciousness-raising?” queries Carl.

“Was the impact reduced, was this drastic compromise from the ‘Genuine Critical Mass’ a submission to the mainstream, car-orientated Western society’s consumerist ideals? We’d suggest that the positive media coverage … the lack of confrontations and the minimisation of motorized traffic disturbance did more for cyclists, and the motorists view of them, than the majority of Critical Masses worldwide.”

For many years Hobart’s streets have played host to a monthly Critical Mass, often half a dozen bikers barely ripple the urban consciousness, at other times dozens take to the streets and make waves. Perhaps it is fitting that the CM movement which pedalled in the vanguard of climate change awareness has a newfound popularity reflecting the recent pre-eminence of this topic.