(A very temporary Website for a very non-temporary movement)
Critical Mass (CM) is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road. CM happens in more than 300 cities worldwide, and it's time Tel Aviv joined in on the tradition as well! CM happens the last Friday of every month all over the world. It is a fun ride, a parade, a demonstration, a celebration, a protest - and anything and everything in between! It is not official and it is not organized; it is whatever you bring to it. It is a chance to show cars and pedestrians that bicycles have a place on the road and are traffic, too!
The bottom line for the scroll-wary:
Critical Mass Tel Aviv
The Last Friday of Every Month
Rabin Square
1:30 PM
Starting next week, Friday the 28th
Critical Mass--a short and lovely definition
Critical Mass is often described as an 'unorganised coincidence'. It happens when a lot of cyclists happen to be in the same place at the same time and decide to cycle the same way together for a while.
Why We Ride
Everyday, all over the world, people are resisting the problem culture of the car by getting on their bikes and riding, instead of driving.
Critical Mass is a celebration of the alternatives to cars, pollution, accidents and the loss of public spaces and freedoms.
Not an organisation or group, but an idea or tactic, Critical Mass allows people to reclaim cities with their bikes, just by getting together and out-numbering the cars on the road"
Hazardous effects of cars.
Pollution. All of us should care about this, not only the people of the bike. Tel Aviv is the third most polluted city in the world (after Athens and Bucharest) The level of air pollution in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area is three times greater than a minimal level set by the World Health Organisation in 2006. This pollution is not only unpleasant, it can also be lethal. in the Dan Region alone an average of 1,100 people die each year from complications due to air pollution. Almost all of this pollution is due to transportation. how do we know this? because on Yom Kippur pollution levels drop to 100x lower than levels that exist on the other 364 days a year. Aside from local pollution, we should also be concerned with the carbon footprint that Tel Aviv leaves.
Noise. Ever wonder what gives Yom Kippur its special, quiet, relaxing, atmosphere, aside from god's presence that is?
Car Accidents. We all know how big of a problem this is. Bicycles can have accidents too but they result in a band-aid, not in the operating room
Mood of drivers stuck in traffic. Even though they may be decent people, many drivers become assholes on the road. They lose their temper, shout, and even become physically violent. Their unhappiness extends into their daily lives, bringing us all down. Imagine how different things could be in Tel Aviv if there were much less aggravated people.
Municipally Policy, and public opinion.
Since bikes are so good for the city, you'd expect the municipality to do much more than it does (even though the infrastructure today is much better than it used to be 10 years ago). I will elaborate on one example out of many (improvement of bicycle parking facilities, allowing bicycle on board trains, bike racks on busses, showers in offices, etc...)
Bike Lanes should be on the road, NOT on the sidewalk. This has to be the case for several reasons:
1. Pedestrians need a designated place, too. They are a group of very different types of beings (children, dogs, pregnant women, the disabled, the old) who cannot be expected to only travel in straight, parallel lines, or to look on the ground for markings of a bike lane. They should not walk with the constant fear of being hit by bicyclsits.
2. Relative speeds. In the city, even if cars move with the tops speed of 50 kph, it is still only twice to three times as fast as bicyclists. On the other hand, bicyclists can ride 5 to 15 times as fast as pedestrians.
3. A very common bike-car accident happens when a rider gets off the sidewalk into the road. This would not happen if riders always ride on the road, and don't surprise drivers.
We don't expect there to be a bike lane on every street. Along with bike lanes we must remind drivers that we exist, so that they can pay attention to us even if there are no bikes lanes, so they can learn not to push us into the curb, and not to open their doors without checking their mirrors. We also want to remind pedestrians, politicians, and all people that we exist, that we are helping, and that we should be respected as individuals and as a group. Lastly, we want to remind each other that we are not lone riders in the concrete jungle, and that there is a community of bicycle riders out in Tel Aviv, hat belongs to an even larger community of the thousands of riders around the world who are riding their Critical Masses as we are riding ours.
To Summarize...
We Ride because bicycles don't pollute, don't make noise, and don't kill
We Ride because we are happy when we ride because we are happy...
We Ride to set the ground for changes in municipal policy
We Ride to remind people that we exist, and form an integral part of city life
We Ride to meet each other, chat about bikes and life, and strengthen our own community
but most of all,
We ride because it is super fun to ride as a group. The more people, the more fun.
These are just some reasons that I came up with. The truth is that there are as many reasons as there are riders. Come and ride for yours.
About the Ride
Each one is different and they follow no set route, with the direction being spontaneously chosen as people cycle along. Anyone is free to join or leave the ride as it pedals along.
One of the reasons that CM is so much fun is that is a leaderless ride. It was very interesting to see in New York how a group makes decisions, while no one is leading it, and still sticks together. like birds migrating from Europe to Africa, and back again.
Some guidelines
Follow traffic laws (as much as possible). Remember that CM is supposed to be a celebration of cycling, not your opportunity to see how much inconvenience you can cause to others. It's about asserting our right to the road, not denying others their right to the road. When possible, try to leave one lane open for cars to pass.
Don't get in confrontation with drivers. a much better way to help our cause is to smile and be as courteous as you can. Besides, they have bumpers, you don't. They have glove compartments, you don't.
When possible, try to leave one lane open for cars to pass.
Corking. We do not want to break any traffic laws, but it is highly important that we stay together as a group. To accomplish this, we sometimes need to cork side streets for a few seconds to allow the entire group to ride through. This will happen, for example, if the group enters an intersection at a green light, which suddenly turns red before the entire group has a chance to clear the intersection. When a rider notices that the light is about to change, she will stand in front of the cars, and with smiling cars explain to the shocked driver that it is important for the whole group to pass.
What you can do to help:
1. Come join the ride!
2. Forward this email to other people.
3. Print out the flier and post it in your office / school / local bike shop / living room
4. Print out the small fliers, guillotine them, and put them on bicycles around you
5. Join the group if you're on fecebook. Critical Mass Tel Aviv: http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6899338074
Email me (critical.mass.tel.aviv(at)gmail.com) if you feel like translating this into Hebrew or Arabic. It will go on the website. Also, I am unable to format this site in Hebrew. If you are able to host or write this site let me know as well.
A short clarification about me: Even though I am hosting the website, I am not the organizer of Critical Mass. Nobody is. I am just passing on the information.
References For the pollution data:
http://www.teva-tlv.org/eng_transport.html
http://www.sviva.gov.il/Enviroment/bin/en.jsp?enPage=e_BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=Object&enDispWho=News%5El3712&enZone=e_news&.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmafp/is_200610/ai_n16931112
A few sentences above were copied and pasted from better writers than I that I found on http://critical-mass.info/
Critical Mass Tel Aviv
The Last Friday of Every Month
Rabin Square
1:30 PM