Art by Mona Caron
This week I have taken what I consider the 6 best and most common arguments against Critical Mass, and given them each a fair answer — one per day. This is the last in the series!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
1. Critical Mass is just a rolling party. It is apolitical, and doesn’t create meaningful social change (or the change it creates is negative.)
An argument I have heard from left and right, from motorists and bicyclists and pedestrians, is that Critical Mass doesn’t create meaningful change. I touched on this a bit with my first post in this series, in which I recounted a conversation I had 17 years ago with a prominent bike activist who warned me that Critical Mass would spark a backlash.
As I said before, that backlash never materialized. Instead, we have seen the following awesome changes since the early ’90s, when Critical Mass began:
• More bikes on the road, increasing every year
• Massive and unprecedented increases in the membership of bike advocacy groups
• More funding for bike infrastructure
• Increasing respect from motorized traffic
Did Critical Mass play a significant role in propelling these changes? As a participant and observer of the changes in this city over the last two decades, I can tell you that it certainly did. Many, many of the people who became involved in various forms of bike activism, from rejuvenating SFBC to organizing bike messengers to bike cultural events like Cyclecide and dozens of other initiatives were all riding in Critical Mass. Often, the very thing that inspired individuals to get involved in bike activism was their experience on Critical Mass. People came to our monthly bike ride and got a taste of what was possible, and that propelled them into a life of activism and social change around human-powered transit.
Take the case of local blogger and filmmaker Adam Greenfield, who recently decided to try a year of car-free living which he documented on his blog. What was it that inspired Adam to make this change?
In 2004, Greenfield came to San Francisco to get his master’s degree and discovered Critical Mass. He had never imagined a peloton of like-minded political cyclists, reclaiming the city streets in a show of force.
“That first Critical Mass ride, I saw the bike as a vision of the future,” he said.
That is only one person’s relatively recent account, but it is hardly unusual. Over the years that Critical Mass has been riding, hundreds if not thousands of people have been inspired in just the same way that Adam was. What I have seen happen again and again is that people ride with us and their view of the world is changed, their view of what is possible is expanded. They see change that they themselves are making in the world, and they like what they see. They are inspired by the vision of a different kind of city that they can create — even if only for a few hours, one day a month. And that draws them in.
People are drawn into friendship circles of others who ride. People are drawn into advocacy groups like the SFBC and Livable Cities and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland. People are drawn into a street culture that values sociability and public space, and they find their social networks and political ideas expanding. People are drawn into a new understanding of the city, and how easy it is the change the city with enough people and enough enthusiasm.
We have brought people out to flood the streets with bikes every month for over 17 years, and our model has spread to over 300 cities around the world. We have already changed the world, even if that change is subtle, difficult to document, and remains controversial. Give it time. Over the coming years and decades, San Francisco will continue to become a more bike-friendly town. One day it may even rival Copenhagen and Amsterdam as a capital of forward-thinking planning around human-powered transport. When and if that happens, the people of the future will look back at Critical Mass, and they’ll know that what we did helped shift the balance in the right direction.
Why don’t you join us on your bike, and see for yourself? Who knows, you might end up getting inspired to change your life and change your city!
Here’s the rest of the series:
Argument 6: You Don’t Stop for Red Lights
Argument 5: You’ll Spark a Backlash!
Argument 4: Delaying Others is Rude!
Argument 3: You’re Angry!
Argument 2: I Saw An Incident!
Argument 1: Critical Mass Doesn’t Change Anything!
