Melbourne Critical Mass

According to their report "Some riders wore silly hats, dressed as clowns and animals and decorated their bikes with stuffed toys and teddy bears."

While State Opposition Leader Robert Doyle denounced the tunnel's closure as "political correctness gone mad", a Victoria Police spokeswoman was pleased the action was over quickly.

One of the complaints of Critical Mass is that the Bolte Bridge makes no provision for cycle access, whilst more broadly it further entrenches car and oil dependency.

According to a police spokeswoman about 300 cyclists took part in the ride, forcing the closure of northbound lanes on the Bolte Bridge for about 25 minutes shortly after 7 pm.

[5] Transport Minister Peter Batchelor denounced the event, "I think it's counterproductive; I think it works against the best interests of the cycling community," he told the ABC.

[6] Acting Police Superintendent Brett Guerin told the Herald Sun "Facilitating protests is always the best option and has proved to work in the past,"[7] In November 2004 Superintendent Mick Williams bypassed the previous policy of negotiation and facilitation and threatened a crackdown on cyclists using CityLink which prevented Critical Mass from entering the CityLink system.

He explained further that congestion on Citylink proved the infrastructure was failing and alternative means of transportation needed to gain greater prominence.