Eyes on the Street: Cabbie on the Hudson River Greenway

The Hudson River Greenway is supposed to be a place where New Yorkers can walk and bike without fear of being hit by motorists. But this is not the case, as regular greenway users are well aware. Caught on camera today by Shelly Mossey, this cab driver was on the bikeway to the south of the NYPD tow pound.

A few yards away is the site where an NYPD truck driver fatally struck Carl Nacht in 2006, as Nacht rode on the greenway with his wife, Mary Beth Kelly. Six months later, a drunk driver traveling at highway speeds slammed into greenway cyclist Eric Ng a mile south of Chelsea Piers, killing him.

At the time, there was nothing to prevent drivers from turning onto the bikeway after exiting the tow pound. There is now a hard center-line bollard designed to deter drivers from making that turn. It’s difficult to imagine someone maneuvering a car around the bollard without seeing it. It looks like this cab driver was determined to get in there.

Mossey wrote on Facebook that an NYPD officer stationed at the tow pound entrance “did not even notice” the cab. After seeing the photos, Mossey wrote, the officer said she “will file a complaint.”

“I think that section of bikeway needs cameras,” wrote Mossey. “I always see taxis on the bikeway in that section.”

In addition to motorists who illegally drive on the path, cyclists and pedestrians must contend with conflict points where drivers cross the greenway. Last July a NY Waterways bus driver, apparently en route to the 39th Street ferry terminal, seriously injured a cyclist just north of the tow pound.

The Hudson River Park Trust, which gets revenue from commercial enterprises inside the park, intends to add more driveways and greenway conflict points for a new retail and food market with 75 parking spaces at Pier 57 in Chelsea.