You cannot be well informed about the comparative effect of Critical Mass as against motor vehicles in tieing up the city/obstructing traffic without reading this work by Charles Komanoff.
The site is Right of Way and I've begged the club to donate to it much as it does to TA and R-a-B. Spend time elsewhere on the site to see its work, but you must read this to understand the forces at play as between Critical Mass and drivers.
Great piece. And those who have been on CM rides can attest that the NYPD brigade charged with harassing CM causes far more traffic disruption than do the cyclists themselves.
Having been in Friday's CM ride, I can say with certainty that the chief obstruction to motor vehicle traffic in midtown Manhattan is the NYPD, not the Critical Mass ride.
The 18th Precinct captain in charge actually held back traffic for 10 minutes so they could ticket 8 riders with citations. Why? Because Chief Smolka doesn't want the bikers making it to Times Square in full view of everyone. It's nothing more than Capture the Flog.
I'd love to get a collective count on the police man-hours involved just in that particular strategic action. Even some cops were privately admitting that the write-ups were jokes to be dismissed in court.
