Boxing Day Critical Mass: the backside of the CBD by bike : Melbourne Indymedia

Photo: Checking the map to work out the location of the next laneway.

Critical Mass hit the streets on Boxing Day in Melbourne. 45 cyclists met outside the State Library and proceeded on a tour of some of the many lanes and alleyways in the Melbourne CBD.

A small critical mass, but it was festive and a good time was had by all.

Many of the lanes had smellorama from the restaurants and cafes nearby and their rotting garbage in the laneways.

The ride finished in the Bourke street Mall at about 7.30pm, with no incidents and unaccompanied by the Police Bicycle Patrol.

Several of the lanes were cobblestone

Fire escapes and Industrial rubbish bins - the backside of the city

More rubbish bins and boxes. A full panorama of putrid Smells was able to be fully sampled on the tour.

A narrow pedestrian alleyway.
Anarchists have passed this way according to the graffiti.

I told you this critical mass was in a festive mood. This bike and rider deserved the Best Decorated Bike Award

Another Parking lot entrance

Up the escalator at the Rialto Building. A trike and a bike pulling a toddler trailer had to go the long way around!

Up Elizabeth Street looking back at Flinders Street Station in the late afternoon sun.

An invaded underground car park in which cyclists demonstrate the space efficiency of bikes over even small cars.

Two Critical Mass first-timers, holidaying in Melbourne from Bellingen, NSW.

Wow!
People having fun and getting around the city without reliance on war and environmental devestation. When did this technology become available? Is it something I can use in my community?

Aussies rule!
Love,
Fowenu

so a group of nice people get together and go for a ride around the city on a nice day. so what? why should this be of sufficient interest to anyone else to justify photos being posted here or anywhere else? self rightous wanker.

Have you been living under a rock for several years? Have you not heard several boureois politicians expressing disgust at this supposedly 'nice group of people going for a bicycle ride' for blocking up a lot of traffic?

Well done to those who have participated in this direct action over the years. Keep the bourgeois wankers at boiling point.

Man, those alleyways are much cleaner that the ones here in Gastown, Vancouver.

What, no dumpster divers?

What gives?

hell i should pay attention. the cm ride last boxing day would of been a brilliant get-out-of boring-family-get-together excuse. preston stinks more than the cbd.

But Dimitrius, they DIDN'T block any traffic. They just went for a ride on nice day. I think that was Mr Uren's point. It wasn't newsworthy because nothing happened. No traffic jams. No frustrated bourgeois (God, I'm over that passe term) motorists. Just people going for a ride on their nice bicycles. Who gives a?

Critical Mass will always be newsworthy, this story sure beats the AM radio traffic updates that pass for the car-equivalent every frigging working day.

Those foreigners sure have funny names, so why not make fun of them? Arse.

If he expected them to block 'traffic' on BOXING DAY, then he's an demanding person, isn't he?

Not much damn traffic on a holiday.

Hey hey Billy, theres been a large effort in the city over the past few years to really clean them up. This is only in the downtown district however, theres plenty of dumpster divin to be done a short distance from town.

In fact a few things have been happening downtown recently.

Swanston St has been closed to cars (1991) and re opened for night time traffic (1999) by day its full of trucks and tour buses. It's the centralmost street downtown and probably carries more cyclists (excluding peletons along the coast) than any other street in australia.

The number of carparks is increasing exponentially. A few years ago Critical Mass started expressing its extreme disliking towards massive CBD carparks (a disliking shared by many transportation planners (see vtpi.org for references) But the pro retail trade council that is in power at the moment favour carparks, advertising, surveillance cameras and security guards. They treat the city as if it is the latest greatest ex-urban shopping mall (i.e. no bicycles in sight)

A recent revitalisation of the pedestrian mall has seen a crackdown on bicycles in this area also despite the fact that they never cause any injuries or accidents (the same holds true for the bicycle ban in city managed gardens)

Critical Mass is now 8 years old in Melbourne. 100 rides old in February! Its a great way to explore the city, find shortcust, "the spaces between" which is exactly what Fridays ride was about.

incidentally, I was in Sydney last Friday, we had 24 riders and similarly a good time was had by all :)

The council also banned buskers from the Bourke St mall this year and replaced them with paid entertainers. This is part iof an ongoing strategy, its the thin edge of the wedge. They have already introduced a licensing system and allocated spots for buskers over the past few years.

it stinks.

it's me!

its Smellbourne!

hi there!
what's wrong with having fun?
a revolution what else have to be?

for a fresh revolution: Collectivization of Joy!

http://www.tmcrew.org/eco/bike/cop9/index.htm

kisses and pedals from italy

That's a great link to a Italian CM..

Looks as if cm there has it's own tifosi, how cool is that!
One day we will make over for the Giro d'Italia..