#470 Critical Mass Ride Down St. Laurent

A Critical Mass Ride Down St-Laurent

Ottawa already has a Critical Mass ride.
What Ottawa doesn't have is a ride that makes an argument.
That's the gap I want to fill on Saturday, September 19, 2026, starting at 10am.

The route is the argument
Most Critical Mass rides are deliberately non-political — a celebration of numbers. This one should be different, because St-Laurent Blvd already has a case file.
The route is direct, point to point:

• Start: the controlled intersection at 815 St-Laurent Blvd — the former Rideau High School site.

• Finish: St-Laurent LRT station, beside the mall — ground zero for the transit tunnel closure and the 60-year TOD (transit oriented development) vision the city keeps deferring.
In between, the ride passes through the controlled intersections at McArthur, Donald, and Ogilvie/Coventry — the string of crossings that define what this stretch of St-Laurent actually feels like to ride today.

Finishing at the station means the ride ends exactly where the LRT tunnel and TOD story live, with the crowd already standing there.

Why this date and time
September 19, not sooner or later. It lands about five weeks before the October 26 election — close enough that a recap post is still fresh in people's minds when they vote.
10am, not later.

What this ride is actually for
Not a protest against anyone. A demonstration of demand — the same logic Critical Mass has always run on, pointed at a specific, already-documented set of failures: a tunnel with an unaddressed 2020 "urgent" finding, and a TOD transit-oriented development vision that's been talked about for sixty years and delivered on for approximately none of them.
If turnout is real, it becomes a data point I can put next the file. If it's thin, that's data too — and worth saying plainly rather than dressing up.

Logistics notes for organizing
• No permit is required  Ottawa Police notified in advance — not to ask permission, but to keep it uncontentious and safe.
• Corking (riders asked to briefly block side streets at intersections so the group stays together) is standard Critical Mass practice;
• Promote through the existing Critical Mass community — they're likely to show up
• Follow up - the election

Contact