A few thoughts:
* There are, as has been mentioned, two or three types of people walking on the trails. There's the regulars, who say "Thank you" when they hear the bell. There's the oblivious...like one sorority girl last week...who said, "I was wondering what all that ringing was about." And there's the absorbed, who're so wrapped up with kids on trikes and strollers and feeding the ducks, that they forget there's others around using the path.
* At least half of the people are using a Walkman and can't hear anything you do.
* Timing of the bell makes a difference. Too far back, and it doesn't register. Too close and people go flying in all directions.
* Our bell is on the captain's bars. We tried the stoker bars, but that required cueing the stoker about when to ring and the bell is muted by the captain's back.
* My wife likes the bell rung earlier than I do :-) Yet another challenge for tandem communication.
* Usual strategy is to ring and then move left on the path. That's usually safest, but I'm also looking for a bailout path in case the peds surprise me.
* What to do with bikers who are loafing on their left of the path and watching the scenery? We once had a family coming toward us across the whole path and the mom almost rode right into us, despite ringing, yelling, etc.
* There's another good alternative to the bell, but I'm chicken to use it most of the time: the Acme Siren whistle. One of my grad students gave it to me on a Hawkeye lanyard. It leaves a smile on peds faces as you go by, but I'm afraid one might go nuts. It lives in our trunk bag, in case we want to use it. Need to be careful of having the wind blow right into it...the blades start spinning backwards and it doesn't work!
-Dan