4 Responses to “First Annual Courteous Mass Ride”

1. By h4ckw0r7h on Sep 6, 2011 | Reply

   This is an interesting idea. However, to clear up potential confusion, this is not the first (“inaugural”) Courteous Mass ride in Boston — there were a few back in 2008. See:

   http://www.meetup.com/bike-207/events/8447439/?eventId=8447439&action=detail

   I participated in the second one in September 2008 which was sparsely attended; after that it seemed to fall apart due to lack of interest/organization.

   My experience was that not all participants were fully aware of the rules of the road, and in fact broke several minor ones during the ride itself (failing to stop on the stop line, failing to signal lane changes for example) and criticized legal behavior (crosswalks are a commonly misunderstood one; it is legal to proceed through a crosswalk when the pedestrian is on the opposite side of the road at least 10 feet away from the center line). It’s much harder to ride a bicycle without breaking any law. When I pointed this out I was told “this is courteous mass, not technical mass”! That left a bad taste in my mouth. If we were supposed to be trying to follow the rules of the road, why weren’t we interested in, well, getting better at it? The conclusion I have is that being courteous and being legal are not the same thing — sometimes, being courteous (for example, yielding out of turn) can be dangerous, and being legal can be rude (for example, a pedestrian is waiting at a crosswalk for traffic to stop but they’re still standing on the sidewalk).

   I know the point is to counteract some of the bad press from other rides being disruptive, but framing this ride as a ride that obeys all traffic laws is disingenuous. As a practical matter it is impossible for all of these different people with different ideas about what’s legal and courteous to agree on this and then execute it in such a small timeframe.

   It’s really about being polite in the streets, and doing your best to ride safely and legally. I would have felt a lot better about this ride if it was more carefully framed this way to begin with.

2. By 100psi on Sep 6, 2011 | Reply

   San Fran has Bike Party. With “rules” and all:

   http://sfbikeparty.wordpress.com/about/how-we-ride-details/

3. By Rebecca on Sep 7, 2011 | Reply

   My son organized some Courteous Mass rides when he was home from college a few years ago and I tried to keep it going. On the first ride he did there was a pretty good turnout despite the rain. What I think stood out for me about the ride was the riders were very aware of one another and were considerate about keeping together as a mass. In spite of people being enthusiastic about doing a Courteous Mass ride I always found publicizing the next Courteous Mass to be daunting. I applaud the successful efforts of the organizers of this Courteous Mass. In lieu of a Courteous Mass ride I have handed out some guidelines/suggestions at one Critical Mass ride such as stopping at red lights, waiting behind cars that are first at the light rather than weaving through the cars to get to the front of the line and most important being conscious of our pace so that we stay together as a mass rather than a very long line of riders with large empty spaces. Many people were enthusiastic. The problem is that the pace & the decorum are pretty much set by the few people leading the ride. Some of the leaders are just oblivious to the fact that they are leading a large group of people and ride the way they normally do which absolutely does not work for dozens or a few hundred riders. Personally I think that corking the intersections is safer for the riders so that cars don’t become a part of our ride. Typically the group can move through an intersection in a few minutes if we stay together as a pack. If the light turns red when only half of the group has gone through and the first group waits at the other side of the intersection for the rest of the riders they will be more in the way of cars resulting in more traffic congestion. I did some research about the first CM rides in San Francisco and found that they had more structure which included a planed route.

4. By Rebecca on Sep 7, 2011 | Reply

   My son organized some Courteous Mass rides when he was home from college a few years ago and I tried to keep it going. On the first ride he did there was a pretty good turnout despite the rain. What I think stood out for me about the ride was the riders were very aware of one another and were considerate about keeping together as a mass. In spite of people being interested in a Courteous Mass I always found publicizing the next Courteous Mass to be daunting. I applaud the successful efforts of the organizers of this Courteous Mass. In lieu of a Courteous Mass ride I have handed out some guidelines/suggestions at one Critical Mass ride such as stopping at red lights, waiting behind cars that are first at the light rather than weaving through the cars to get to the front of the line and most important being conscious of our pace so that we stay together as a mass rather than a very long line of riders with large empty spaces. Many people were enthusiastic. The problem is that the pace & the decorum are pretty much set by the few people leading the ride. Some of the leaders are just oblivious to the fact that they are leading a large group of people and ride the way they normally do which absolutely does not work for dozens or a few hundred riders. Personally I think that corking the intersections is safer for the riders so that cars don’t become a part of our ride. Typically the group can move through an intersection in a few minutes if we stay together as a pack. If the light turns red when only half of the group has gone through and the first group waits at the other side of the intersection for the rest of the riders they will be more in the way of cars resulting in more traffic congestion. I did some research about the first CM rides in San Francisco and found that they had more structure which included a planed route.

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