I find that a minority, when hearing that, instinctively take a step left before realizing that they need to move to the right.
I find that a minority, when hearing that, instinctively take a step left before realizing that they need to move to the right.
On ped only trails or bike-ped trails, I feel like blocking the path is rude. You have others using the trail and the speed differential is a lot lower.
My comment was about bodily safety. In terms of trail utilization, I agree that unduly preventing the use of the trail is rude. But there’s huge daylight between things that are rude and things that are liable to injure people.
Pedestrians should not deny the trail to bicyclists that can safely pass. Even if there are lots of cyclists, at least a column must be kept available for pedestrians.
Ultimately, if such a trail is so heavily congested – and there is one such trail near me – then the municipality bears the responsibility to accommodate users. If this means closing nearby streets to open up more recreational walking facilities elsewhere to shift the demand away from the trail, that’s fine. If that means removing auto lanes on parallel roads to shift bicycle commuters off the trail, that works too. I’m all-in on reconfiguring taxpayer-owned spaces to serve people, rather than as car sewers or car storage.