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wow. That's terrible.

That is very upsetting. I would like to see the police, both Minneapolis and Three Rivers get more patrols on these trails... and I mean bike patrols (not using their squad car).

When we say scooters are we talking like moped-ish types:

Or like these:

(saw one on the greenway last week)

I'm guessing the former since it was mentioned they had lights?

I saw a pair of guys on minibikes (small balloon tires, Briggs & Stratton engine) on the path in Battle Creek park last weekend.

Thought about confronting them by turning my xtracycle sideways on the bridge, but I was on my way home from the Beer Dabbler event, so still a bit drunk, and had another bike in the bags.

I ended up saying something, but I doubt they heard me.

Meet the future.

Now that 3 Rivers has said electric mopeds are official ok, the doors are open to anything. No one will be out there policing the situation, and any sort of 2-wheeled powered vehicle is likely to show up. The introduction of motor vehicles will bring in quite a different class of people, too.

yes

I saw what must have been this same group last night, about 10 minutes later going east along the Greenway by the Nicollet entrance. Three people going really fast on scooters, really loud motors, bright lights. The trail is so narrow there, they scared the hell out of me. I thought about calling them in, but wasn't sure who to call.

911.

"Hello? There are people driving motorbikes on the greenway, they're going to hurt someone or themselves"

DorianHawkmoon, el richard and i had a run in with those guys a month or two ago. we yelled at them to get off the trail and they wouldnt. they kept trying to pass us but their stupid noisy smelly scooters werent fast enough. i ended up trading bumps with one of the jerks as he tried to pass me. these kids are stroker ace's of the highest caliber.

The best situation is for them to do both, as they both have valuable effects. The bike cops are harder to see, so they have less intimidation value, which you WANT. Also, you will never get them to patrol on bikes at night. Honestly, it isn't that they don't care, but that they simply can't. The bike trails in this city are very safe compared to the surrounding streets, and a bike cop on one of the trails can't respond to a 911 call anywhere else. I'm pretty sure none of us want them to be down in the trails wasting their time on a slow night, and not being able to respond to some domestic incident in time to save someone's life - which is, by the way, not a unlikely possibility. Given their extreme budget constraints, it simply isn't an option for them to run bicycle cops at night.

Oh, and it is always best to call 911 and let the cops deal with this stuff, don't yell at the pricks or anything like that. They have already proven themselves assholes, so it seems likely they will be even bigger pricks if you give them the chance. No, the cops probably won't catch them, but if it is happening regularly and the cops hear about it, they will allocate resources to go after it. If the cops don't know, they can't do anything about it.


Gabriel