By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — Police are apologizing for Tuesday's speed trap in Central Park where they gave out 10 tickets to cyclists during the early-morning car-free hours that are favored by bike-riders.
More than 200 tickets have been issued to Central Park cyclists this year, but riders said they had never seen anything like the two unmarked cars with radar guns on Tuesday morning.
The NYPD later backtracked and reportedly took the unusual step to make amends by knocking on doors with mea culpas for cyclists ticketed for speeding.
"The officers apparently erroneously issued moving violations, instead of summonses for violating park rules, to nine of the 10 cyclists who were riding at 22 to 25 mph, as documented by radar," an NYPD spokesperson explained.
Nine of the 10 summonses were voided. The 10th cyclist, riding at 28 mph was cited correctly with a moving violation, officers said.
Two officers knocked on bicyclist David Regen's door during dinner Tuesday night. "They said, 'We're here because we're withdrawing your ticket because we feel you were treated unfairly,'" he told the New York Times.
NYPD officials said the park's West Drive has a speed limit of 15 mph, under park rules, when the park is closed to car traffic.
That speed limit is posted on smaller signs throughout the park though not West Drive — though it still applies, police said. When the park is open to cars, West Drive's posted 25 mph applies to all vehicles.
However, according to the Central Park Conservancy's website, the maximum speed for cyclists is 25 mph.
Cyclists have long been in a war with pedestrians and dog walkers competing for Central Park's asphalt, and many pedestrians have complained about the cyclists whooshing through the park.
Earlier this month, officials from the Central Park Precinct told community residents that the ticketing spike was in response to an increase in incidents. But cyclists say they can't get in their training or exercise with the current enforcement.
After the morning tickets, the message board of the New York Cycle Club lit up, its president Ellen Jaffe said. "Our message board was filling up faster than I've ever seen with anger and resentment," she said. "All's well that ends well. It ended on a note of grace."
But cyclist Bill Weiss told DNAinfo he hasn't received any apologies, nor was he sure he would — although he plans to contest his ticket regardless. The part-time cycling coach got a $270 ticket for passing a red light just as the police were setting up their radar guns at 6:10 a.m., he said.
Weiss claims he was concerned when he saw unmarked cars in the car lane with their lights off and thought there had been an accident. So he unclipped a foot and crawled through the red light at less than 10 mph to see what happened, he said.
"I effectively rolled through a red light to see if they had crashed and that's when they ticketed me," said Weiss, 36, who, ironically, also has a cycling company that teaches cyclists — from triathletes to newbies — how to ride in city streets and parks.
Weiss said that serious cyclists like him have been very concerned about the recent enforcement, especially with the park set to become more crowded with training cyclists as racing season approaches.
"We wake up at 4 a.m. to be able to train at 5 a.m. when the park is dead," he said. (The park technically opens at 6 a.m.)
"No cyclists worth their salt rides after that," Weiss said. We train early in the morning and then we go to work. The people that don't have day jobs head over the [George Washington] bridge and ride up to Bear Mountain."
He did acknowledge there are "weekend warriors" — who were not part of the "productive" cycling community of dedicated athletes — speeding through the park during the afternoons "yelling at little old ladies."
Two bills addressing the situation were introduced by City Council members on Wednesday. One calls for blinking yellow lights in Central Park during car-free hours. Another calls to ban cars entirely from Central Park and Prospect Park. Cars currently have limited weekday hours they can drive through Central Park.
