...

City Rebuffed in Trying to Bar Mass Bike Rides. Let ’em ride.

The judge said the city had wrongly argued that the Critical Mass rides were a form of parade or procession that required a permit because the riders “travel en masse.” Following the city’s reasoning, the judge wrote, “New Yorkers commuting over the Brooklyn Bridge on bicycles during a transit strike could be considered as ‘bicycling en masse.’ ” Such a restriction, he said, raised constitutional concerns.

“Riding a bicycle on city streets is lawful conduct, as long as one observes the applicable traffic laws and rules,” he wrote.