BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | A two-man Park Enforcement Patrol bike safety unit was out at Christopher St. in Hudson River Park last Friday, making sure cyclists rode safely.
The PEP’s held “SLOW” signs when cyclists had the green light. Then, when the traffic on bordering West St. came to a stop at a red light and fell quiet, they flipped their signs around to tell approaching riders to “STOP.”
“Thank goodness,” one female pedestrian commented of the PEP presence as she safely crossed the bikeway into the park.
A female jogger came huffing up the path. One of the PEP’s pointed for her to take it over to the esplanade.
“Senora!” “Senora!” he called out to her back, but she kept motoring up the bikeway.
A Hudson River Park Trust spokesperson said, “The detail is a program that we started last year to educate people on bikes to obey the lights. PEP moves around the park to critical access points that tend to have more traffic.”
In addition, Delores Rubin, chairperson of the Hudson River Park Advisory Council, said her group is taking a hard look at the bike path, which has some serious issues — from joggers who should be using the esplanade, to speeding pedalers who fantasize they’re in the Tour de France.
“It’s sort of a no-man’s land — who can go where, who has ownership,” Rubin said.
As for the Lycra-clad speed demons on their pricey bikes who careen dangerously along the crowded, narrow asphalt ribbon, she said, “I’m sorry, do your workout at 5 a.m. — not when the ‘tourons’ are walking around. That’s my name for the tourists and morons,” quipped Rubin. “I’m a born-and-bred New Yorker.”
