Green Party organise Critical Mass cycle ride in Bedford

The event - hailing from San Francisco - aimed to promote a better cycling infrastructure for the town
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Bedford Green Party has organised the town’s first Critical Mass cycle ride to help promote a better cycling infrastructure for the town.

Critical Mass is a movement which originated in San Francisco in the 90s and is held monthly in many larger towns and cities all over the world - highlighting the need for safer cycling routes and celebrating the bicycle.

It is also based on the idea that there is safety in numbers - cyclists being safer in towns and cities where are joined-up cycling routes, their numbers are high and therefore drivers are used to not always having priority.

The Critical Masscycle ride in BedfordThe Critical Masscycle ride in Bedford
The Critical Masscycle ride in Bedford

Organised at short notice, the ride which involved two loops of the town centre and Embankment was joined by more than 40 cyclists.

Green Party councillor for Castle ward, Lucy Bywater, who helped organise the ride, said: "Government announcements around cycling in recent weeks are really promising but the funding for local councils needs to be there.

"And with the upcoming deadline for council applications for the second tranche of council funding from the Government’s active travel grant, we really need Bedford Borough Council’s application to be ambitious to help towards the shift to greener travel needed."

Mark Brown, who joined the ride and cycles daily for work, said: "The cycling infrastructure in Bedford is not fit for purpose, and is often little more than a splash of paint near the gutter."

The organisers are hoping to make the event a monthly one.