Report on the Critical Mass bike ride in Manchester
Manchester Critical Mass | 29.09.2003 11:31 | Ecology
Around 25 cyclists met up in Whitworth Park at around 5pm and we had a quick chat about what we wanted to do. Critical Mass is a colourful demonstration of pedal power where cyclists take to the road on mass, blocking the road to cars making it safe to cycle and demonstrating how the city could look without traffic. It makes a point and is totally legal.
We decided to ride into town up Oxford Road at a reasonably slow speed. The traffic was instantly blocked and though some drivers honked the response from motorists was generally not too bad. Pedestrians waved and some cyclists and skaters joined us. We passed along Deansgate and down Princess Street where motorists seemed to get a bit more agitated - perhaps because they were on their way home. We turned off Princess Street onto Whitworth Street and ended up at the Knott Bar in Castlefield for excellent vegan organic beer.
Look out for postings on IndyMedia about the next one, people mentioned doing it on the last Friday of every month. If you want to get more involved with local cycling campaigns in Manchester try the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign
http://www.gmcc.org.uk/
We decided to ride into town up Oxford Road at a reasonably slow speed. The traffic was instantly blocked and though some drivers honked the response from motorists was generally not too bad. Pedestrians waved and some cyclists and skaters joined us. We passed along Deansgate and down Princess Street where motorists seemed to get a bit more agitated - perhaps because they were on their way home. We turned off Princess Street onto Whitworth Street and ended up at the Knott Bar in Castlefield for excellent vegan organic beer.
Look out for postings on IndyMedia about the next one, people mentioned doing it on the last Friday of every month. If you want to get more involved with local cycling campaigns in Manchester try the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign
http://www.gmcc.org.uk/
Manchester Critical Mass
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A correction for you
02.10.2003 22:42
"demonstrating how the city could look without traffic."
What he actually meant was "....demonstrating how the city would look without traffic AT FIRST." Of course, once the city was rid of all that pesky traffic, the city's look would progressively worsen because:
1) Valuable goods and services would take longer to reach their destination since alternative methods of transportationw would have to be used;
2) Valuable goods and services would be MORE COSTLY to obtain by the average family, since these alternative means of transportation would in all likelihood be more expensive than having them transported in by road (were the alternative methods cheaper rather than costlier, businesses would already employ them);
3) The average family income would drop precipitously since most folks would have to quit there current job and find one closer to their home;
4) Ultimately, the city's look would take on a very austere appearance, since businesses profits (the source of taxes which are relied upon to maintain the city) would drop precipitously. The cause of this would be the limited pool of resources (both human and non-human resources--afterall, without traffic, it would become dramatically tougher for business to import both talent and supplies);
But hey, at least you'd have your precious bicycle, so I'm sure you'd think it was all worth it!
Flaming Sword