Nipsi98

While I enjoy an occasional ride on the rail trail, I find the lack of rules quite frustrating. These trails are open to transit of all kinds, bikes, skateboards, walkers, and it can get quite crowded at times.

Normal procedure is to call out 'on your <whichever side>' when passing others, however, if the person has headphones on, which is often the case, they don't hear this.

One possible solution would be to follow the rules of the road in these situations: ride on the right, walk on the left. In this manner the pedestrians would be facing the oncoming vehicles and would be aware of the approaching vehicles.

randomgear

Welcome to the MUP - chaos rules; be prepared to evade or stop on little notice. Weekends tend to be more crowded with families with kids, dog walkers and other people who may not be paying attention to cyclists.
MUP = Multi-Use Path.

Machka 

Use the parts of the trail which are well out in the country ... further than the average walker, jogger, parents with kids, etc. usually go.

We had some great rail trails in Victoria (Australia). They weren't overly busy anyway, but usually once we were about 10 km out of town, it was all clear.

asmac

Some of our rural rail trails are taken over by quads which chew up the surface. Basically make them unusable for bikes. In the winter they are owned by snowmobiles.

dpeters11

On the rail trail near me, Little Miami, there are certain areas that get crowded, but it thins out pretty quickly. What I hate most are rollerbladers that go two abreast and don't move to single file, and kids that are quite aways ahead of their walking parents and swerving all over the trail. Hard to pass them.

El Cid

Same here. After I go some distance, the trails are almost empty.

Juan Foote

The thing that many people don't realize is that MUP are typically designed for low speed traffic, at or barely above walking speed in most cases. Several of the PATH routes around this area are marked with speed limits in appropriate hilly areas. Even at that, a lot of cyclists don't slow down enough to be truly safe passing, and many walkers are blissfully unaware (or worse) and don't get out of the way. I think both groups have fine comments for the dog walkers too.
I like to use the MUP in appropriate situations and will trade the slow down for courtesy and safety, add some scenery, and not be next to a 2 ton killing machine that hates me.

Leebo

Here in MA every user stays right, passing on the left, My bike bell works well. I avoid them on the weekends, my MUP rides are just during the commute.

Paul Barnard

I am ever so thankful for the MUPs we have in this area. The roads are nightmarish. LA has one of the least educated populations, one of the fattest populations, some of the worst drivers in the country and some of the rudest drivers in the country. All this according to various studies. Combine all of that, and it's suicide in places upon our roadways. On top of that our roads are poorly designed and poorly maintained. Our MUPs are a zoo in places. Even after years and countlesss miles of using the paths, some of these oblivious tools still impress me by the level of dumbassery they display. That said, it's pretty easy to get away from the gaggle of mindless, meandering idiots. Learn to expect everyone you encounter to do something stupid. Warn anyone in your path or along your path of your presence. One day my wife and I were taking a break to enjoy the view of the river. A person who I assumed to be homeless walked out of a wooded area where homless people camp. Our paths here run on top of the levee. The homeless person walked up the levee and began walking parallel to the path on the grass beside it. Some 200 yards away a young man and woman were riding side by side coming up at about 12-14 mph. I immediately thought to myself that the homeless guy was likely to cut across the MUP at any moment. Sure enough as the couple got almost to him he cut across without looking over his shoulder. The guy plowed into him. They were both bloodied up and in a good bit of pain, but generally OK. I helped the guy restore his bike to rideable condition then went on my way.

The lesson here is that you simply must expect the people you encounter to be utterly oblivious to their surroundings and to do the dumbest possible crap. Even the other riders act like idiots at times. I hope your MUP has a place you where you can get away from the crowds. Most of them do.

jputnam

Note that unless you're a very slow talker, the first word they'll make out is <whichever side> -- you're not already in conversation, it will take them a few moments to realize you're talking to them. Then you have 50/50 odds they'll hear "left" and step to their left as requested.

A bell is much clearer, it says there's an overtaking bicycle, without saying anything about what the pedestrian should do, since the overtaking cyclist has the duty to pass safely.


Here in Washington State, the rules of the road apply by law on paths as well as the street.

[h=2]RCW 46.61.750[/h]
(2) These regulations applicable to bicycles apply whenever a bicycle is operated upon any highway or upon any bicycle path, subject to those exceptions stated herein.

Nipsi98

a bike bell!!!! awesome idea, as it's shrill enough to pierce headphones!

Vexxer

Could be worse... your Rail to Trail could also allow horses. So take out the skate boarders, but keep everyone else, and add giant mounds of horse manure you need to dodge. So much fun...

gdhillard

I do a MUP every day, 16 miles. Busy on weekends, but I use a bell, and pass in the grass if I worry that there might be a problem. I love the MUP, and am thrilled to have a place to ride with no cars.