Critical Mass: A Cycling Revolution in Nairobi

Hey!

Below, we spoke with Cyprine Odada , a mother, urban planner, and avid cyclist from Nairobi, Kenya. She is working to transform African cities into cycling cities as the Lead Organizer of Critical Mass Nairobi , the largest gathering of non-competitive cyclists in Africa.

Cyprine is also the keynote speaker in our upcoming webinar "Step-by-step | Supporting Active Transportation" happening on Thurs. Sept 14. at 12P (Jamaica Time).

RSVP to hear more from Cyprine.

Can you introduce yourself, your role, and your length of service for our readers?

Cyprine Odada (CO): My name is Cyprine Odada - I am the lead organizer and the Chief Executive Director at Critical Mass Nairobi. I am not the founder of Critical Mass, but I've been with the group since 2015, and I've been organizing with them for a long time. When I joined, the movement was in a period of transition, so I picked it up, and I was able to grow it into what it is right now.

When I joined Critical Mass, the general goal was to make friends by cycling together for fun. After, I could see that there were so many things that we were missing out on because nobody was advocating for cyclists, cycling, or better infrastructure. So, the goal changed from just being a group of friends cycling to being a voice for change. We aim to get as many people as possible back on bicycles and use this wheel of change to influence policy and infrastructure.

You said, "Get people back on bicycles." What was the historical context of cycling in Nairobi?

CO: Back in the colonial days, there were much more people riding bicycles. It was considered a very prestigious thing to be on a bike. I remember looking at photos of chiefs and senior government officials riding. There was even a bicycle parking lot in Nairobi; there was so much infrastructure. But as development increased over the decades, more roads were created explicitly dedicated to cars, and cycling infrastructure was taken away. People felt scared to ride bicycles or had other options sold to them that seemed better or more prestigious.

So, cycling just went downhill. And now we are trying to get people to fall in love with cycling again, to trust cycling as a mode of transport and a fun activity. And that's how we package Critical Mass and get people to join. We make it very inclusive, enjoyable, and entertaining. It is an activity that makes a motorist leave their car at home and wish to join us.

How and why did you enter this type of work?

CO: I moved to Nairobi with my husband (he was my boyfriend then) in 2015. Coming back to the city and not having friends made me feel very lonely and isolated. I was also struggling to find work, so I became stressed. I kept looking for gyms or places to work out, but they were so expensive, and I couldn't afford them. And then I remembered my husband had this ancient bicycle that he got from his dad, and I just told him, "You know what? I'm going to try." I remember my first attempt at riding in Nairobi, in the parking lot, and I was shaking and trembling. But something told me I had to do it because I was going crazy with all my stress. In a week, I got the confidence to leave the estate where we were staying and ride in the city.

I rode around the estate, and two days in, I met two random men who were also on bicycles. They approached me and asked how I was doing; I told them I just started riding, and that day, they invited me to join them on a ride to the city center. I don't know why I would trust two strange men, but I did and followed them to the city center. That's when I met other people at Critical Mass. I remember, back then, we were around 10- 15 members. I was so happy because I found my community, my tribe, and I was clinging to this tribe because I finally found a way to make friends in Nairobi.?

The Bike Train is a series of cycling groups starting in different neighborhoods, following safe routes. Pickup points along the corridors ensure everybody can join the train at convenient intervals, and we can bike together to the city center.

Critical Mass Programs and Activities

CO: Initially, our goal was to have monthly group rides; in 2015 - 2018, we had less than 30 people on each ride. The pandemic stopped our activities, but our numbers have skyrocketed since then. Now, we have more than 400 people on our monthly rides. These group rides have been our main activity, but we have realized that people want more out of this community.?

We are now encouraging cycling to commute to and from work. We started the Nairobi Bike Train program after realizing many in our community only cycle once a month - when we have our monthly rides. When asked why, they said they only felt safe when riding in a group. The Bike Train is a series of cycling groups starting in different neighborhoods, following safe routes. Pickup points along the corridors ensure everybody can join the train at convenient intervals, and we can bike together to the city center.?

So far, we've had four successful Bike Trains, and people are using them regularly for work or school journeys. It's nice to see people in the same neighborhood or corridor having smaller riding groups outside of our Bike Train. It's beautiful to see.

We want the city government to be part of this program because this can help alleviate traffic. Nairobi is a very congested city where we need other modes of transport. Bicycles don't take up too much space, and we've already mapped potential routes. We need formal approval from the city government because, in comparison to other modes of transit, cycling infrastructure is very low-cost. Specifically, we need them to allocate space for safe pickup and drop-off points and parking locations.?

Critical Mass is also considering developing a Big Brother and Big Sister program and an Adopt a Tree program.?

Can you give us some context on the transportation system in Nairobi?

In Nairobi, most people are pedestrians; most walk even though it's a city full of hills.

CO: The majority of road users are pedestrians. So in terms of mode choice, pedestrians make up the most significant proportion, followed by public transport users (bus or matatus), then we have motorcycles, then we have private cars, and then we have cyclists. Cyclists comprise the smallest portion of that pyramid, but we are fighting to go to the top. In Nairobi, most people are pedestrians; most walk even though it's a city full of hills. In the colonial era, the population wasn't as big as it is now, and the city was designed to have sidewalks and pedestrian connectivity. As the population grew through rural-urban migration, the infrastructure could not meet the population demand. So now we find ourselves in a city with a significant population and insufficient infrastructure to support pedestrians.?

So, if I were to paint a picture for someone in the Caribbean, I would call Nairobi a beautiful mess. It's very chaotic, but there's some order in the chaos. We also have the informal transport system, which includes matatus and boda-bodas, which have their way of managing themselves but need to be better organized. So there's a lot of traffic and road crashes related to the informal industry.?

Historically, Nairobi was designed to be a city where people lived and worked within the city center. As zoning policy changed, commercial uses were encouraged and prioritized, pushing residents further out of the city center. This restructuring set the tone for long-distance travel from outside the city into the city center. There is Nairobi City, but there is also Nairobi County, which has ballooned to house residents. It eventually engulfed smaller towns around it; if you look at a map of the city, it keeps stretching outwards year after year. So now we have a series of satellite cities that demand the same level of services in the city center.

Who are the most vulnerable users of Nairobi's transportation system?

The law is car-centric and singularly focused on the efficient movement of cars from one point to another. It does not give pedestrians or cyclists the same benchmark or offer the same level of care.

CO: Our infrastructure is designed to make vulnerable users suffer. The vast majority of Nairobi residents are pedestrians, yet we have roads constructed without sidewalks. We are telling pedestrians that they must risk their safety to get to their destination. Our infrastructure is setting people up for failure; it is setting people up for death or serious injuries.

Our policies (and policymakers) also do not support road user safety. They should dictate how pedestrians and cyclists are treated on the road, but they are ambiguous. For example, pedestrians will not know how the law can protect them during an accident. The law is car-centric and singularly focused on the efficient movement of cars from one point to another. It does not give pedestrians or cyclists the same benchmark or offer the same level of care.

Class Perceptions of Transportation in Nairobi

In most African cities and countries, we are taught to aspire to be car owners. When you finish school, you're first supposed to buy a new car (even if it's an old one). There's a sense of pride when you own a motor vehicle; it is a cultural thing that parents engrain in their kids. If you're a pedestrian or take public transport, you are considered poor and unsuccessful. In contrast, somebody who owns a car (probably in debt) is still regarded as wealthy or successful.

I recently wanted to enter an institutional building, so I went on my bicycle. The security guard refused to open the gate and told me to take my bike and park it elsewhere. He brushed me off when I asked to park my bicycle. The next day, I returned to my car, and he saluted me and said all these pleasantries. I told him I was the person he refused entry to yesterday. He was apologetic because he didn't realize cyclists could own cars. With Critical Mass, we're using it as a tool to change how people perceive cyclists. It's not a poor man's mode of transport; it can be anyone's mode of transportation and is a legitimate mode worthy of dignity and respect.

Gender Perceptions of Transport Modes

Back in 2015, cyclists faced a lot of aggression from drivers. When people see female cyclists on the road, they're very receptive; they give us way, hail us, and cheer us on as we ride. Our experiences are less aggressive because we are more visible; we have so many ladies riding, some of us wearing dresses and being visibly feminine while on our bikes.

There is a lot of empowerment. Critical Mass has a ride every month, and we always have 6 - 8 new women joining. Some have never touched a bicycle since they were kids. And now, after seeing other women riding, they want to ride because they can see the joy and happiness it brings us. Other female cyclists share their experiences about the level of freedom when you ride a bicycle and it also cuts transport costs.?

We're considering having a training program specifically for women to push for gender inclusivity in transport because we know many barriers keep women and girls from cycling. Some are cultural or economic, and some are rooted in the shame surrounding cycling. But now, women in Kenya don't care what society says; I mean, we do, but we don't care as much. Women are becoming more empowered and want to take ownership of their freedom. We can support that as an organization; if you want to ride a bicycle, we will provide the bike.

How has the local government reacted to these initiatives?

We don't get financial support from the government, but the support we get is that they don't stop us from doing what we're doing.

CO: When I took over leadership, I read about the Critical Mass in San Francisco and how they were considered a rebel group because of how aggressive the cyclists were. We did not intend to fight with the government or other road users because we promoted sharing the road more inclusively. We share all our activities with the city government and respect the law. When we have our rides, we do not close the roads; we only take one or two lanes, depending on our group size.

The local government understands we are doing a lot of work for them. We carry out the sustainable mobility advocacy work, which they should do. We are making the city look good and bringing the community together. Nairobi is a huge city, and the government doesn't know how to make people happy or meet their needs. But we've managed to take on some of this burden by building community.

We don't get financial support from the government, but the support we get is that they don't stop us from doing what we're doing.?

Class differences in the cycling community?

In the early days of Critical Mass, there was a perception that we were members of an elitist group as professional cycling is usually a rich person's sport. But as our community grew, that perception faded, and some of the rich people who initially joined stopped coming. The community eventually became lower to middle-income. We've got everyone to join Critical Mass: people with the most expensive bicycles and those with very rickety ones. It's common to see people from these different segments of the city in conversation over cycling routes or races.?

I just found that cycling is such a shared language. It breaks down economic, social, or language barriers that exist. I also think Critical Mass is intentionally recruiting members at different events in different locations across the city that will target diverse members.?

Public Health Benefits of Cycling

Just like in the Caribbean, noncommunicable diseases have skyrocketed in Nairobi. People are not outside as much as they used to; people are not walking as much as they used to. But unfortunately, our Ministry of Health doesn't understand how a bicycle can impact someone's life. It's still very much run by older people who drive cars or who are driven by their drivers, so they don't know what cycling is like; they, a lot of them, I'm not saying all of them, but most of them still don't have that experience, or they've not seen somebody in their circle, whose life, whose health was terrible and then it got better because of cycling.

We hear testimonies regularly from individual cyclists sharing stories of how their health improved. I remember this one; a gentleman approached me and said, " Thank you so much. You don't know how Critical Mass has improved my health". He was on high blood pressure medicine for several years, taking six to eight pills daily.

He was tired of it because his health was not getting better. But he no longer needed all his meds when he started cycling because he was healthier. As an organization, we need to find a way of packaging these stories and sharing them with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health so that they can understand the immense benefits when people adopt an active lifestyle.

Any advice for folks in the Caribbean who are interested in making these kinds of transformations in their cities?

CO: I know for us Africans, and I assume for Caribbean people as well, what people think of us stops us from doing what we want. Don't let people's perceptions or beliefs deter you from riding. Let them stay with their perceptions and ponder on it, but you must allow yourself to enjoy this simple machine. So many good things come from cycling: improved health, well-being, and savings. If you want to do it, you do it.?

Second, we must start teaching our kids that owning a car is not the best or the only option. Other options can bring you happiness, can bring you wealth, and can bring you joy.?

Thirdly, don't be afraid to call out your government when they're not doing what they need to do. I don't know about the Caribbean, but in Kenya, people were afraid to voice their opinion on poor service or poor infrastructure. Slowly, that has changed; if a road is bad, it's bad. There's no point sugarcoating it, trying not to offend someone. A bad road is also dangerous and impacts our safety. That needs to be addressed.?

Thank you for talking to us, Cyprine. We really appreciate it.

Thank you, guys, it's been my pleasure.