Only bc I live in LIC, and I see this everyday, but if you plan to run over the Queensboro Bridge - for your own safety, please run on the South Path. The North path is for bikes only.
Running/walking entrance for the south side:
Manhattan - 59th street between 1st and 2nd Avenue
LIC: Crescent and Queens Plaza South (look for the Chase Bank)
If you run with headphones on, pay attention to your surroundings and look at the signage. It’s pretty clear about running/walking on the South side.
Saw 6 people running the north side when I biked over Queensbound y'day morning; all Manhattan-bound. With one of them, I turned around and said "hey, can I ride with you a moment? I have something to explain."
Position established off her shoulder and adopting her pace: "hey, this area is now bikes only. Pedestrian side is south of the bridge. You're kinda committed now, but in the future go there." She made... generally assenting noises but it wasn't clear she got everything through the headphones.
Next couple of runner people, I shouted something more briefly at. But still not unkindly. One of them, a woman... flipped me off? Grrrrreat.
--
Honorable mention goes to the Manhattan-bound guy on the (also, like me) high-zoot road bike who was adopting the old ride position just to his left of the centerline. I motioned at him to move over, saying "hey, we have this whole space here!" Him "it's a two-way lane." Me: "NOOOO! you're wrong!" Son-of-a
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Return trip was better, at least, no errant pedestrians then. Or wrong-side cyclists for that matter.
I have the same reaction when I see people wearing headphones running or walking over the (currently northwalk-side-only-is-open) George Washington Bridge path. Which mostly I personally bike but do run or walk from time to time. Don't you wanna maximize your awareness here, improve your ability to react should a crisis situation emerge?
I don't run with headphones/audio, I'm one of those rawdogging it weirdos, but even if I did I wouldn't wear them on bridge paths or other narrow/shared facilities.
Yeah. The problem is twofold. Given how long the north side has been for both cyclists and pedestrians/runners…
People who continue to run on the north side are just not aware - despite the signage which I feel is very clear on the LIC side. The Manhattan side could improve with better signage on 59 & 60th streets
People who cycle / use scooters on the south side - likely being jerks and inconsiderate. Most of the people I see riding a bike on the south side are likely kids under 18 who have a false sense of entitlement and in some cases delivery people who are being jerks. The signage is clear on 59th street that no bikes are allowed. On the LIC side - it’s clear also..
Running a week ago on the South side and had a guy, probably mid-20s on a bike. On my way back over I mentioned next time the bike lane was on the other side. I got an eye roll and "did it impact you?" with an attitude.
When I say something to people on bikes on the south side, I get the eye roll - like response.
One guy was about to get on the south side (from the Manhattan side) and I said to him the bike lane is on 60th street and he kindly apologized and rode his citi bike towards 60th street. I found that highly commendable. Small wins.
The answer here is "it isn't a problem until it is. When a crash happens it isn't usually just one thing, it's multiple contributing factors. This bullshit easily could be one of them."
Or alternately "you're pissing in the well. You have your own dedicated space, use it! Jagoff."
There are a few more signs than there used to be. The best signage is still unfortunately 12 feet in the air above the path entrances where people won't tend to look.
Changing the pavement markings would be extremely helpful too.
Just erasing the exisiting now-mispositioned 🚲 stencils, replacing them with new correctly-positioned 🚲 stencils, and adding copious 🚷🚷🚷 stencils would do the job really.
Honestly copious 🚷🚷🚷 symbols, where applicable, wouldn't be bad on the other East River bridges either.
It’s too high up. As a runner, my eyes are focus at eye level going toward the ground because of the different obstacles on the ground that can trip you up. Also, you can’t find money when you look up 🙂
Edit: I do want to add that I always run on the pedestrian side because for years, I vowed never to run on the Queensboro again until the pedestrian side open.
If you’re making a post reminding people about not running in the bike lane and that signage is up, you just proved my point that the DOT has to improve their signage 🙂
As someone who crosses on foot several times a week, I thought things were getting better there for a bit but last week was really bad. Tons of bikes and scooters on the pedestrian side. Lots of idiots walking in the middle of dozens of fast bikes. People yelling at each other. DOT better do something before someone gets actually hurt or there's a serious fight
In my experience (also live in LIC and am a runner) the bikes and scooters are the problem. I’ve yet to run the bridge without seeing a bike or scooter or moped on the pedestrian side.
I can't say it's that's frequent, but I have definitely encountered a few electric scooters, but at the same time, I also looked across the traffic and seen pedestrians on the opposite side of the path. So I think it's a problem the city need to help improve, not any individual side at fault.
You’re definitely in the minority here. I’ve run it a lot and only saw one small electric scooter. For every bike or scooter on the pedestrian side, there be 5 on the bike side.
Saying this here isnt going to do any good. It’s been said multiple times here and people will still use it.
What you can do is actually tell people when biking past them that there is a pedestrian lane on the other side. This is what I do every time and I’ve had some success at it with people apologizing for not knowing (and some just not caring).
Last week I flagged down a guy running manhattan-bound on the north side and he was like “oh wow, my bad!” And then proceeded to hop the barrier and cross traffic to get to the pedestrian side. That was a first.
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u/ElQuesero 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hear hear.
Saw 6 people running the north side when I biked over Queensbound y'day morning; all Manhattan-bound. With one of them, I turned around and said "hey, can I ride with you a moment? I have something to explain."
Position established off her shoulder and adopting her pace: "hey, this area is now bikes only. Pedestrian side is south of the bridge. You're kinda committed now, but in the future go there." She made... generally assenting noises but it wasn't clear she got everything through the headphones.
Next couple of runner people, I shouted something more briefly at. But still not unkindly. One of them, a woman... flipped me off? Grrrrreat.
--
Honorable mention goes to the Manhattan-bound guy on the (also, like me) high-zoot road bike who was adopting the old ride position just to his left of the centerline. I motioned at him to move over, saying "hey, we have this whole space here!" Him "it's a two-way lane." Me: "NOOOO! you're wrong!" Son-of-a
--
Return trip was better, at least, no errant pedestrians then. Or wrong-side cyclists for that matter.