I will probably be accused of being a Critical Mass opponent again, but here goes: did the London Critical Mass ride have to bump up against the police cordon around the Olympic Park during Friday's opening ceremonies? See the Associated Press story here.
Sure, the area may have been on the usual Critical Mass route, but the area was closed for a special event. The police had apparently given advance notice that the group was to stay clear of Olympic Park during the Opening Ceremonies, but they rode into the area anyway. And there were arrests, and drama, and bad publicity.
Sheesh. Is this the best way to get out the message about alternative transport? Or do London's cyclists think angry cabbies are getting all the ink?
London has done a number of good things thus far with the Olympics...The way they have gone about getting people around isn't one of them.
In credit to Vancouver, they strongly urged people to leave their cars at home while the Olympics were on -- which people for the most part did at least.
Public transit, walking and bicycle usage went up.
You were able to ride a bike in the special Olympic lanes (as far as I know)...From what I'm told of those in London you can't cycle in them.
Although I highly doubt those taking part in THIS critical mass ride were riding to protest the poor Olympic transportation -- it has received some attention.
Most of what I read while the arrests were taking place were siding with the cyclists (at least in the British media I read)
Posted by: Ryan | July 29, 2012 at 05:36 AM