Bicyclists celebrated when the long-closed Riverside Park path under the West Side Highway between 55th and 72nd Streets reopened last week. But now some are chafing at enforcement of no-riding rules put in place for Fleet Week just a little farther down the path.
“The police and parks department have closed the bike path between 45th and 55th St due to Fleet Week activity,” wrote Laura, who received the $250 ticket pictured below. “They are making cyclists walk their bikes 10+ blocks due to pedestrian traffic (very minimal). This just happened as I biked to work this am and it was not a problem. They will ticket you heavily. (Me, even tho I was coasting). It’s outrageous. No notice.”
“I was being respectful and slowed to a cruise (no pedaling),” she wrote. “It’s a travesty that they’ll ticket folks commuting home but won’t ticket motorized vehicles that frequent the Greenway.”
A Parks Department spokesperson wrote that 14 people who failed to comply with officer instructions or posted signs received summonses yesterday. “This rule is implemented every year during Fleet Week to ensure the safety of pedestrians. Signs have been put up instructing cyclists to dismount their bikes for the stretch that is closed.”
Where are the enforcement cops when toddlers get mowed over by bicyclists??? Appreciate the ticketing, but how about non holiday monitoring. #priorities #pedestrian #toddler #safety #NYPD
What toddlers have been “mowed down?”
This is excessive and unnecessary.
— “What toddlers have been “mowed down?””
Answer: https://www.westsiderag.com/2018/05/25/cyclist-runs-over-toddler-on-riverside-park-path
Please try to keep up before you attack others as being “excessive and unnecessary”.
I’m all for enforcement to make sure that bikers are riding responsibly but this sounds a bit extreme to me. It would actually make more sense to me if it was being enforced in front of the Intrepid, as that area is pure chaos and not really safe for biking.
but the motorized vehicles
That is outrageous. Was advance notice given and posters put up so people can make alternative plans? I would request a hearing to fight the summons.
Poor little biker didn’t obey the rules and suffered the consequences. Tough! Think of the number of times we have observed bikers running red lights, coursing through intersections filled with pedestrians, going the wrong way on streets, avenues and bike paths et al ad nauseum. Bikers who flout the rules of the road are an existential menace to the quality of life in the city and one that NYC politicians have neither the courage nor the will to tame.
Amen!
You know who really go through red lights in droves and are never ticketed? Pedestrians. In this city they are unaccountable to the law. Until enforcement distinguishes between safe and unsafe behavior both among cyclists and pedestrians, it is apparent that we are looking at favoritism and prejudice. Where there is no justice, there is no peace.
Actually almost all the traffic laws are broken by drivers. Texting, speeding, failure to yield, failure to signal, failure to stop for a school bus, illegal u-turns, engine idling, obstructing the path of an ambulance.
But sure, let’s talk about pedestrians… How many people were killed by pedestrians. Or cyclists last year? 0
First, let me say this: Bikers should always yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. It’s just common sense.
Having said that.. you know when I decide to run a red light on my bike? When I see pedestrians jaywalking. That’s why I know it’s safe when I don’t have a clear view of the side streets.
So think about bikers running red lights as jaywalkers.
Exactly.
“Where there is no justice, there is no peace.”
You’re paraphrasing Reverend Sharpton for a bicycling campaign?
Hear, hear!
It’s mayor Bill Di Trumpio’s fault.
Why do they have time to ticket people on bikes in NYC, but never reckless drivers?
Was gonna CitiBike it with the beautiful weather, but I guess I’ll take a cab or overcrowded subway instead.
but the cars!
Laura, your reporter, writes that “They will ticket you heavily. (Me, even tho I was coasting). It’s outrageous. *No notice.*”
But Officer Casis, who wrote the ticket, says that Laura “was warned several times”.
Laura, who’s right? Were you “warned several times”, or did the officer make that up?
Laura also reports that “I was being respectful and slowed to a cruise (no pedaling),”. Officer Casis faulted her, not so much for “cruis[ing]”, as for “fail[ing] to comply with my directives to walk her bicycle on the path due to [F]leet [W]eek event”.
Laura, is it true that you ignored the police officer’s instructions to get off your bike and, instead, continued to “cruise”??
I don’t know Laura, but if she ignored an officer and kept riding when he told her more than once to dismount (in what was probably a heavy pedestrian area), then maybe she got what she deserved.
So, just why couldn’t you comply with the officer’s directive?
It was awesome on my commute yesterday evening to have to walk for those 10 blocks. The only traffic was other bikes being walked along with many parks enforcement officers.
I get closing it on the weekend, but closing a heavily trafficked bike path during the morning and evening commute is ridiculous.
How do they ticket bicycles without license plates on them? And why would you pay the fine because of that? Yes, they have your name, but that information is unlikely to be put into a data base for payment. I was ticketed on my bicycle once. I never paid the fine and I never heard from anyone about it.
They take your license. You won’t get points, but you’re certainly in the system. If you don’t own a drivers license, they require some form of ID, or they will bring you into the station until you can get ID.
I can guarantee that your name is in their computer base and the next time you’re stopped for something menial this will show up as an unpaid ticket. They can use it against you.
Boasting about ignoring the law and encouraging others not to pay tickets? Very nice.
90% of hit and run drivers are never caught. Just sayin’
The rules are posted. Stop whining — Grow up and follow them. You can use the City Streets as a replacement.
I would be mad if I got a $250 ticket for trying to bike to or from work on the west side when the cycling accommodations look like this: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2018/05/25/cyclists-jockey-with-traffic-in-nycs-annual-fleet-week-greenway-debacle/. No doubt, so would you. Gale Brewer should be more proactive about this, but obviously closing a bike lane without accommodation and ticketing bicyclists $250 when there are still 8 lanes dedicated to motor traffic is shameful. It makes the city look bad. Simply put, we can do better. Close one single lane to cars and let cyclists safely use one of those eight WSH car lanes for Fleet Week. The Level of Service for drivers on the West Side Highway will still be fine, and it will be nice to see the city using more common sense.
We can do better, more simply: Have cyclists dismount and walk their bikes in shared areas of the bike path. Period.
Until my fellow cyclists acknowledge that there is an acute problem among the cycling comunity with an endemic “Rules don’t apply to ME!” attitude, there is going to be friction and sparks with the larger community.
This applies to: riding on sidewalks, riding against traffic, riding through traffic lights, riding at unsafe speeds, riding in an unsafe manner, riding thought congested pedestrian spaces and refusing to dismount one’s bicycle in a posted area, and riding through a congested area when instructed by a safety office to dismount and walk.
It is as frustrating and angering to see cyclists display an anti-social attitude and reckless behavior as it is to BE a cyclist and feel threatened by inconsiderate, road-hog drivers who don’t think cyclists have any road rights whatsover.
Clearly, cyclists have rights, and we should be doing more to make it easier to use cycling as a mode of transportation and an outlet for recreation, NOT more difficult. But with rights comes the responsibility to behave safely, and to be considerate of other people using the roads–drivers and pedestrians alike.
Okay, while we’re at it, let’s have drivers get out of their cars and push them along the West Side Highway, given that pedestrian deaths have occurred along the road during past Fleet Weeks. It’s only fair.
But the cars!
nice deflecting
The point of shared zones is to share them, not to have all act in the same manner as the same modality. In shared zones, cyclists should not dismount any more than a pedestrian should be required to get on a bike. However, each user is responsible for their own safety and the safety of others. Cyclists in a shared zone should not be traveling at 20mph, but a slower safe speed. Also, pedestrians (walkers and joggers) should not turn separated zones into shared zones. The bike path and the pedestrian path diverge for most of the southern portion of the Greenway. There is a difference between cyclists thinking no rules apply to them and thinking certain rules should be broken because there are some rules that, when following them, lead cyclists to be in greater danger than breaking them. If breaking a rule makes it safer for me, I will break that rule. However, I will never break a rule that makes it more dangerous to someone else.
Totally disagree. The person who decides to keep biking to work during Fleet Week and wonders why Gale Brewer kept 8 lanes of car traffic open AGAIN while completely closing the Greenway to cyclists, is part of the “larger community” on the UWS. I dont think it’s at all unreasonable to expect the city to be capable of keeping the Greenway open for bicycling through Memorial Day weekend. Do you? There is a surface boulevard with literally 4 to 5 southbound lanes devoted to car traffic right there, so lets just allocate one of those lanes to keep people biking over Fleet Week. Done and problem solved.
By the way I’m somewhat skeptical you’re actually a cyclist if you’re getting saddle sores! Visit one of the neighborhood’s many bike shops – they can set you up with a better seat or adjust the height if needed. I promise you’ll be more comfortable. Or if you picked the name to gripe about cyclists, I see what you did there.
No sympathy for these cyclists, who routinely flout traffic rules – often in the most obnoxious manner – thereby endangering pedestrians who, unlike the cyclists are not attached to and protected by a potentially deadly missile.
Yes, see the other article in this issue about the toddler run over by a bike. Most (yes most) cyclists I encounter on city streets and in the park ignore the rules—racing through red lights, biking in pedestrian lanes, riding wrong way so pedestrians now must always look both ways before crossing. My favorites are the cyclists who ignore rules while talking on their phones or texting. I have been hit by a bike and also, regretfully, hit a cyclist when opening a car door because he was racing where bikes are not supposed to be. What started out as a great idea has become a scourge in the city. Can’t we all co-exist by following the rules?
If you have been hit by someone riding a bicycle, and you were obeying the law and the person on the bike wasn’t, then there’s no excuse for that. Pedestrians are #1 on our streets, and both bicyclists and motorists need to respect that.
That said, I don’t understand your comment about how you doored a person who was “racing where bikes are not supposed to be”. Where was this? There are very few places in NYC where motorists are allowed to be but bicyclists are not. With few exceptions, the only places that allow cars but not bikes are highways, interstates, expressways, etc. But that can’t be where you doored the cyclist, because you couldn’t have parked your car on one of those roads.
As far as your claim that the person on the bicycle was “racing”, I’m not sure what you mean by that. It is nearly impossible for all but the Lance Armstrongs of the world to exceed the 25mph speed limit on a bicycle, unless they’re descending a steep hill. Normal bicycling speed for casual bicyclists is about 12mph, and the strongest ones on lightweight road bikes will average around 20mph.
My point is this: given the details from your post, it seems unlikely that the person you doored doing anything wrong. You, however, did break the law by opening your car’s door into the path of an oncoming bicyclist. New York’s law is clear about this: it is illegal to open the door of a vehicle without checking first that doing so will not impede or endanger oncoming traffic.
When you implore everyone else to follow the rules, you need to take that advice to heart as well. You broke the law, yet you easily gloss over that fact. That’s what infuriates me about the backlash against bicyclists. People are so quick to villainize others for misbehavior while simultaneously excusing their own.
Clearly, you are a motorist. When was the last time you were incensed by another motorist who failed to use a turn signal? By someone who honked his/her horn? By someone who exceeded the speed limit by 2mph? By someone who double-parked for “just 30 seconds” to pop into the store? By someone who blocked the box at an intersection? By a taxi driver who pulled into a bike lane to drop off a passenger? All of those things are illegal. When you do observe these illegal behaviors, does your level of outrage match your level of outrage when you see someone do something illegal while they’re riding a bicycle?
I don’t excuse dangerous illegal behavior by people on bicycles, especially when such behavior violates the principle that pedestrians are #1 on our streets. But especially given that a motorist has a much greater potential to inflict harm on others than a person on a bike does, anyone who is outraged by cyclist misbehavior should be at least equally outraged by motorist misbehavior.
How did you open a car door into a cyclist who was where he was not supposed to be? You know, opening a car door into a cyclist is 100% your liability according to NYS Traffic Law. It is your responsibility to be sure that the way is clear and safe before you open your door.
boo hoo there are cyclists who are riding in an unsafe manner
not all just some but the city is right not to risk the pedestrians on a holiday weekend
wish they would enforce cyclists going the correct direction in bike lanes. going north on Amsterdam was nearly hit twice trying to cross the bike lane by cyclists (in groups mind you) travelling south. a whole family with no helmets. Happy to share the roadways and sidewalks with all – but should be following the rules
Have been railing for years about delivery, messenger and kids bicycling on the sidewalks when the street is one way against where they want to go. It’s been bad for strollers and little kids, but now that I qm using a walker, it is deadly. Again..for the 1,474th time, why can’t police ticket these dangerous folks.??? …even if it is random. The word will get out!!!
kids are allowed to bicycle on the sidewalk for safety reasons.
Where are the enforcement cops when bikes don’t stop for red lights along Central Park West? Several times I have had near incidents while alone and walking my dog. I always look, though they fly right on through with no care. It’s really frustrating. The lack of courtesy by bikers on roads is incredible.
As a frequent rider on the Hudson Bikeway I see manycyclists riding through Red lights and through pedestrians who have the right of way at the intersection.
I don’t have sympathy for a cyclist who disregarded a directive to dismount.
We cyclists know which rules we choose to observe and which ones we ignore.
My daily constitutional is walking from 59th St down to the West Midtown heliport and back. Yesterday the path by the dock area for Fleet Week was blocked off for cyclists by cops and access to the dock area by heavily armed cops and military. I agree that there was little or no advance notice but any cyclist who then chose to ignore police instructions multiple times to dismount was lucky to escape with just a ticket. Even the Lycra Louts were walking with pedestrians when I was there so Laura must be something special.
Just pay it!!!!!!!!
This is a joke. Most of the time Parks peons are posted without NYPD backup. They have no arrest powers and no gun. Catch me if you can!
Wrong!!!
Park police do carry guns, OC spray, cuffs etc.
They also have arrest powers as they are sworn law officers.
Odds are you are thinking of the park maintainers that keep the parks clean and are seasonal employees. Keep pull the attitude we will be more than happy to grab you up. Reckless endangerment comes to mind
Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) are not armed, and are peace officers. They have arrest powers while on the clock, but do not have arrest powers while off the clock (NYPD officers have arrest powers on and off the clock).
Even BEFORE AND AFTER Fleetweek the area will have thee same NYS & NYC regulations.
There are clear signs all over the area, from the ferry landing at 38th to the north end of the passenger ship terminal. There are sings on light posts and at eye level on every block, bikers just have to look! They clearly state that they must dismount and walk their bikes through that area. No coasting, going slow etc.
This is because of the number of people always in the area walking such as Circle Line passengers, Intrepid visitors, non cruise ship events at the terminal (there are a lot of mini conferences) etc.
It should be noted that the same NYS NYC laws applied to the area around the 79th street boat basin in Riverside Park. With another, I say another as there have been others but this is the first to get media attn. there will be strict enforcement there as well.
That’s not true, I commute on the path every day and there are no such regulations. This is the only time of the year when people on bikes are told to dismount and walk the bikes.
Look at the signs on the lampposts near the Intrepid, the various entrances to the passenger ship terminal and by the ferry terminals
There are also plastic signs bolted into the concrete barriers
Maybe you need glasses.
I think you’re absolutely wrong. In fact, there’s a sign just before the Intrepid (going South) that indicates the proper lanes for pedestrians and cyclists.
Throughout the Greenway, walkers and runners populate the bike lane despite the existence of a pedestrian path that hugs the river. But if a cyclist even veers off into a pedestrian path, all hell breaks loose.
And it shouldn’t? What is your logic, woody? As someone mentioned before, not likely you were a star on your school debate team. Based on your logic – a pedestrian gets on the road against the light and the car veering on the sidewalk is in the same category?
Having friends that are in port as part of this event I do have to laugh at the people who admit they broke the law -Me, even tho I was coasting). It’s outrageous. No notice.-
THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN NOTICE its been the law that you have to “dismount and walk your bike” in this area and there are posted DOT metal signs bolted to lamp poles Odds are they don’t enforce it around the passenger ship terminal unless there are large numbers of people around.
Though they regularly ticket around the Circle Line and the ferry landing just south.
I did laugh after a group of bike “Lance Armstrong” wannabes started yelling at an old man with a walker and his family (grandkids etc) for crossing on a green light for him. They started yell at him when they went through the red light for them and clipped him.
Those poor bikers, the older gentleman was a Gunnery Sgt from Korea (your never a former Marine). He let them have it for nearly running over his granddaughter. The bikes tried to intimate him into being quiet but he stood his ground, and shortly part of the Marine QRT standing a post nearby came over. Once they saw what was going on they tried to clam the bikers down, but one of them suggested that if the Marines put down their weapons they would not be so tuff. The bikers were then advised to relax and stop acting like a bunch of Army types and stop wining. One foolish one then touched one of the members of the team and said something about her mother. That biker was very quickly introduced to Mr Pavement and the others dissuaded from repeating his mistake.
We then proceeded to do the town as only Marines can.
You have to be stupid to pick a fight with a Marine
Wrong, There are NO dismount and walk signs in the BIKE LANES; those are on the paths going into the Parks areas. Biking to and from work in the bike lanes is not illegal and since it was a Thursday afternoon, NOT filled with pedestrians at all but cyclists! I am a middle-aged woman, with a basket, a helmet, and no earbuds, who has been in a bike collusion myself with an inconsiderate Citibiker Who didn’t realize passing in a No-Pass zone means just that! I ride slow anyway! I also contend with joggers and motorized vehicles who choose to illegal run or ride in the bike lanes. So I DO resent arbitrary rules posted within hours and without proper judgement on speed and use of cycling precaution. If the Parks Dept and the NYPD would police the bike paths on a more regular basis and ticket EVERYONE, and make clear noficatiobs of changes to the bike lanes, I would have no problem with the expectation and rule of walking my bike 12 blocks. As to several warnings, 1 “walk your bike”, then a ticket (from a PEP who walked alongside me as a coasted…slow enough?). Maybe the $ will go into helping the park pay for something to replace the ugly excessive concrete barriers.
I biked from worker and we both dismounted..we weren’t happy about it as there were few pedestrians, however, there were obvious signs everywhere and the cops were polite in their reminders to do so… not sure if it was Laura who we saw, but we did witness a cop telling a girl twice to please dismount.. and she didn’t.
After we reached beyond the dismount point and started riding, the same girl was racing fast by pedestrians, abruptly cut both of us off angrily on our bikes, and had no respect for anyone around her..
I’ve been riding for years.. but to go off on dismounting one week to make it easier for a big event, is it truly worth all these rants? It’s 10 blocks for crying out loud.. if you’re so mad, then take another bike route to avoid that area… that advice was offered up front when you were asked to kindly dismount
*from work
$250 is a steep fine for a minor offense. The signs should indicate that. Many people commute by bicycle to work because they cannot afford a car.
Many rules and signs in this city are ignored, so no one knows which ones will be enforced. They have lost credibility.
People routinely ignore signs in Riverside park to keep dogs on the leash. Motorists routinely honk horns in residential areas to vent their frustrations at traffic. Motorists routinely race to beat the red lights on West End Ave.
So cars can drive on the sidewalk now, right?
And cyclists are exempt from all traffic rules.
For those of you who think people riding bikes should be OK with ~12 blocks at 3 mph on the primary commuter route due to poor infrastructure & planning — you’d also agree there’s nothing wrong if your subway also went 3 mph for 12 blocks every day due to poor infrastructure, too, right?
Huh? You mean do we agree that people, adult and children, being plowed during these hours so you can get to work faster?
Well, very often it does, so…
Anyway, I often ride the greenway, and joined almost every other cyclist in ignoring the signs on day one, when there were literally no pedestrians and no reason to do anything other than coast carefully through the area. But, on day two, officers were posted to let cyclists know they meant it, and so (nearly) everyone dismounted and walked. No big deal, it’s a special event and a few minutes delay once a year.
There seems to be a recurring theme of people refusing to follow police/officials’ instructions and then complaining about the predictable consequences.
I ride my bike on that path and I don’t at all feel sorry for those who were ticketed. I know that a large percentage of the cyclists on that path do not obey the rules of the road so it makes sense to me that those cyclists willfully disobeyed what they were told. Also, if I may rant for a second, tourists on Citibikes never obey the law and are very dangerous to the rest of us and from what I’ve seen the police do not stop them no less ticket them. The politicians don’t want Citi Bank to get angry. I’m just saying about that.
I agree with the above that a lot of cyclists commute on bike because a car isn’t an option or we don’t want to pay $121 for a monthly pass for an overcrowded and dysfunctional subway system. So while I agree 10blocks isn’t the worst to have to walk but its a real pain in the saddle. It would be nice if during peak commuting hours cyclists were allowed to ride through then from say 11-4? cyclists would dismount. I made it through on the 25th with no one enforcing and then on the way home the signs were down.
Cyclists seem to believe in many (not all) cases that their judgement of conditions on the roadway or bike path supersede regulations and signage. Laura seems to think that by coasting she had adequately complied with the Fleet Week regulations because she deemed it safe. But that’s not how laws work. You don’t get to choose when to comply because strange as it may seem you may not be able to perceive the entire traffic situation from the saddle of your bike. Fleet week means lots of tourists that walk 5 abreast or step into the bikeway without warning. Cyclists need to comply with the rules of the road or bikeway just like cars and motorcycles. It’s compulsory not voluntary or optional despite whatever feelings of entitlement one might have.
Drivers drive at what they feel is the safe speed. Midtown North Precinct which covers that area issues 0 speeding tickets a day.
Ignorance of the law the courts have held is not a justifiable excuse. People really should pay attn. to what they are doing and educate themselves about the legal facts. For example if you spit anywhere on NYC parks dept property is a summons offense good for $75. And in case you didn’t know the traffic islands on B’way are parks dept property.
It look like they were hit with: Disorderly behavior—endanger safety of others
They should be glad it was a Parks Dept officer that gave them the ticket and not NYPD. Disorderly conduct is an arrestable criminal offense and will get you taken to the local precinct. Go ahead try it if you don’t believe me
It’s not about the law, it’s about how it’s enforced. E.G. When you give jaywalking tickets to black people only then don’t tell me about the law is the law.
I got nailed for on my bike for
running” a red light on 9th Avenue! The cop said, “You didn’t even see the pedestrian.” I said, “The one in the plaid shirt? The one who was jaywalking and not in the crosswalk?” And I didn’t say that until he began to write the ticket.
OUTRAGEOUS! And, yes, I, too, was coasting. I moved ever so slowly. Jaywalking on a bike, I would say. Incredible…
Did they warn you as stated? If so, and you ignored, then I understand why you were ticketed.
What a waste of tax money. Also pedestrians are usually to blame in collisions. Maybe look up from your phone or think before changing direction.
This is De Blasio’s useless police; he must be proud. Instead of trying to stop robberies and arrest real criminals, the police is giving tickets and threatening to arrest people biking on bike lanes, giving tickets to cars that don’t come to a complete stop at stop signs, etc.
Bikes on Promenade – GO AWAY NOW & 4EVA
Keep the cyclists off the shared walk, run, bike path by the Hudson River from Pier 1 Cafe to 86 St.
As a parent, I’m terrified when my kids want to walk or play near the path. I’ve seen accidents, near accidents, and just plain anxious parents and senior citizens unable to feel safe.
WE USED TO BE ABLE TO WALK NEAR THE RIVER AND RELAX AND ENJOY.
#Nightmare
Notice how it is a shared path? You yourself said it is shared for all. This is not the place to have kids playing anymore than a good place to have kids play is on the malls of Broadway. Just off the path are green grass and fields to play. And as an attentive parent, there would be no issue of them running from the grass into the path because you would stop them before they did. It always annoyed me in the park seeing the care givers who feel that, because they are in a park, they can stare at their phones instead of watching and being with their kids. But if you want your kids to get really close to the water, or be as free as they can be, there are better, safer places than the shared use path between 86th and Pier I.
I was walking my dog on West End Ave this morning when we were both almost hit by a biker riding on the sidewalk. Bikers routinely ride on the sidewalks here on their way to and from the bike store on 72 Street. When I told the biker she shouldnt be riding on the sidewalk she called me an angry old woman. I wont write what I called her.
For every “entitled” biker using such paths, there probably is at least one “entitled pedestrian,” like the ones that walk 3-4 across making it impossible for bikers to actually, you know, ride their bikes. I’ve seen MANY people walking very young children in the middle of bike paths… when there is FAR more safer spaces to WALK, they insist on using the bike pathway on the assumption all bikers should be dismounting every 100 feet to accommodate them. How about using, you know, the SIDEWALKS that are nominally for exclusive use by PEDESTRIANS walking?
There are many parts of the bikeways that have lines for bikes and pedestrians, yet I almost NEVER see walkers sticking to their parts of the pavement. Now I am mostly familiar with the bikeways from the GW to the Battery, and there are almost always alternates for walking but NONE at all for biking. How many bikers do you see cruising along sidewalks vs. how many walkers you see on bike pathways?
We rode there yesterday. The thing is there are police and signs everywhere saying to walk your bike. The Navy police are there yelling it out to people so there is just no excuse. If anyone is riding in that zone it means they walked their bike in and then got back on it after being warned like 10 times not to. They should get a ticket.
One point many here are missing is that this is the busiest bike route in the country. Thousands of people depend on this route to get to and from work, and other places. Not planning an alternative route is pretty crappy. In 2003, the NYPD took one of lane of 12th Ave to take care of this issue (and also at a time when fewer people were cycling.) We Can do better.
This is the busiest bike path in the whole U.S. Right next to it is a five-lane highway that is overbuilt for the volume of traffic, particularly on weekends, and yet it is cyclists who must sacrifice during Fleet Week. During Fleet Week a number of years ago, a lane of the highway was closed off to cars and given to cyclists, giving pedestrians the entire walkway without bike interference. It was a win for everyone. If the de Blasio administration is serious about promoting cycling vs. driving, it needs to adopt creative solutions like this.
Good point. Thanks, Ken!
Why weren’t motorists required to “dismount” their cars and push them for the same 10 blocks that people were required to walk their bikes?
You think I’m joking, but I’m really not. If we’re willing to require bicyclists to walk their bikes, we should be willing to require that motorists push their cars. And if we’re not willing to do that, then we need to take one lane away from cars and give it to people on bikes.
This is the highest volume bicycle path in the country, used by many commuters as a mode of transportation.
Plans should be made to allow these people to continue to bike through the area during fleet week.
Imagine if they told drivers they had to get out and push their cars for ten blocks.
Um, just walk your bike or ride on the street. Then you don’t get a ticket.
I agree with other comments about the bicyclist who speed through when the walkways they share with pedestrians.
This is crap. Instead of ticketing bicyclists on the bike path, they should ticket pedestrians who walk or run in the middle of the bike path in the areas where there are separate designated areas for pedestrians.
“closed” to cycling, but open to walking.
This is not really crap.
The police ticked the cyclist for riding on a closed path.
In the words of Nelson Muntz……
HA HA!!!!!
That is all.