Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
Bells are at best a vague warning without spatial information. Given how dazed and confused people on mups can be, I prefer more detailed communication: "coming through, on your left, heads up etc."
I guess it's because the MUP I use is a major commuter route. It's very rare for someone to not stay right, or get themselves to the right/get their dog under control/grab a wayward toddler when they hear a bell. There's also a handful of elementary and middle schools that it serves, and so during morning and afternoon/evening rush hour there's lots of kids on bike, foot, skateboard, rollerblades, etc using the path properly. I didn't realize how rare encountering truly clueless people was until there was a concert at the fairgrounds and I was riding by shortly after it ended. So many people trying to get back to their cars that were completely unable to cope with MUP traffic.
ETA: This does remind me of the time one of the elementary schools had a fire drill during the morning commute hour and evacuated the kids and had them stand directly in the middle of the MUP. I've never seen them do it again, so I think the resulting clusterfork made them realize what a bad idea it was.