I was riding south on Broadway on the left side of the road with a few other riders. There were maybe 10 or 12 of us, and we were stopped, as we rode up, by a large number of cops on motorcycles who immediately targeted people with cameras and then started writing us tickets. We were riding next to some barricades that separated a pedestrian walkway from the road, and we were in a lane that has the picture of the bicycle, showing us that just through the traffic light (where we were stopped) is where the bike lane begins. The cops demanded our IDs and would not say why, then spent a long time writing tickets, talking amongst themselves. They returned our IDs with tickets, such as "failure to stay to curb" and "riding abreast of another cyclist." When I asked what I had been doing wrong, since I had been riding in the road, as I am allowed to do, the cop ignored me several times and then said, "You'll have to take it up in court" and walked away.
It was pretty clear that the cops had been waiting there for critical mass riders and that they didn't care what they were giving tickets for.

Riding with several dozen other riders eastbound on 40th street, just after crossing Park Avenue, a police officer on a scooter nudged me over to the right hand side of the street. After some delay and discussion with three other scooter cops who were standing around he gave me the ticket and explained that it was for "not riding to the right hand side of the street."
I pointed out that I had been riding to the right hand side of the street, or as near as I could get to it on the opposite side of a row of parked cars. A concerned witness observing from the sidewalk also pointed out this fact. The police officer did not reply.
After returning home (having lost the other riders) and reading up on the exact rule cited on the ticket I have realized that even if I had not been riding to the right or left side of the street RCNY 4-12(p)3 does not constitute a valid citation as it does not enjoin cyclists from doing anything at all. Instead, it merely states that they may ride to the right or left of certain one-way streets.

Update: This was dismissed in traffic court, 6/4/07. The cop showed up to the hearing and claimed to have no recollection of the offense and thus it was dismissed.

For the March CM ride I was wearing #19 T-Shirt of the set of 49 shirts given out at the start of the ride. After the police intervention at Park Ave South and 18th St, I was riding solo uptown. Ran into a group of less than 12 cyclists at Park Ave south of 40th St, who were shadowed by about 6 scooter cops. I rode with this group as it turned east on 40th St, to 3rd Ave. We stopped for the red light at 3rd, waiting on the left side of this single lane street, to make a left turn. Note, a very large Hampton Jitney bus was parked on the right side of 40th partly filling the roadway lane on the right - there was insufficient room for a bike and motror vehicle to share this part of the roadway.

Cyclists mixed with motor scooters turned left onto uptown 3rd Ave. Cyclists were all moving across to the right side side of 3rd to use the right lane. I was approximately 50 to 75 feet north of the 40th St intersection and in the nest to the right hand lane when a Scooter Officer yelled "Number 19 Pull Over." We stopped on the right side of the roadway.
I believe that I was stopped for being #19.)

Note that the officer consulted with his Sergent about filling out this ticket - so his selection of the cited NYS VTL versus the correct NYC code may have been reviewed by his senior officer.

This ticket took about 20 minutes to write out. At the same time, a platoon of about 18 scooter cops was assembling on the SE corner of 40th and 3rd Ave - the Officer was part of this platoon. It appears that the Officer wanted to get in a collar just before he had to stop for his unit's assembly here.
The officer demanded my identification but I insited to know why he stopped me before handing over ID. Finally, reluctantly, the officer said that I was pulled over for failure to ride on the right side. Telling him he was wrong, I gave him my ID. The Officer was not particularly abusive, but was clearly clueless as to the traffic laws and particularly to the bicycle traffic laws.

I have photographs of the Officer issuing the ticket. Attached Below

LAW CITED ON TICKET:
"V&T" "412(P3)"
(this citation is a garbled version of the City Admin Code: 34 RCNY 4-12(p3) - It is NOT from the state V&T law. Even the way the code citation was written - 412 instead of 4-12 indicates a lack of knowledge of this law and of legal citation in general. There was no lack of time or lack of support - his Sergent was advising him - as an excuse why this officer got it wrong. This cop did not have a clue)

There was a second ticket issued for "failure to obey a lawful order."

I was one of three people ticketed at this point. A group of some 10-15 of us had regrouped while riding uptown (after a series of tickets were issued and the ride was broken up), and were joined by another similarly-sized group which was on 40th heading east. We joined together, and rode a few happy blocks, until the police decided to pull some of us over. PO Kendrick sounded a bit confused as to why he was giving me the ticket (he kept saying "no lights" - which for once was happily not true - then "no lane" which was true, but didn't make any sense). It turned out to be for not being on the left or the right, with no bike lane available, which doesn't seem to make much sense, either. I got the ticket quickly (about 10 minutes max), and we rode down to the corner, where someone else was still being processed. Eventually he also collected a ticket, and we rode off.

The police had blocked the intersection ahead of me. An officer came up to me, grabbed my bike, and requested my license. As we talked, the street cleared out, and she moved me over toward the curb. She was more civil than i've come to expect: she actually answered me when i asked what was going on, and why i was being stopped.

Still gave me a bullshit ticket for not riding on the right or left side of the road, eventually, though.

When i pointed out to her that there was no way i could ride all the way over to the right (because there were other cyclists there), she said "You should be riding single file, then."

When i told her i didn't think that the law called for cyclists to ride single file, she said something along the lines of "Look, i'm just doing what i've been told to do."

She then took my driver's license, told me to wait there for her to bring it back, and wandered away for quite some time. I was amazed enough at the whole scene to forget to get her badge number, so i stood there in the street where she had put me. She was gone for quite some time, to the point where i was no longer sure that i'd get my license back, but as the police were winding everything down at that intersection (which they had blocked up for about 30 minutes) she came back with my license and the written-out summons.

Reading up on the Traffic Rules which i was ostensibly violating, i find that in fact, the section states (from section 4-12 (p)):

Which appears to be clarifying additional privileges for bikes (i.e. the permission to ride as far on the left as is practicable in addition to the right), not removing them.

At any rate, it would have been impracticable for me to ride further over to the right than i was, because there were other vehicles there!

Ride: 3-30-07.

Another "Dog and Pony Show" trick by the NYPD. Make riders stop in an intersection and force them to decide which ticket to take. One for blocking the intersection or one for going through a Red Light.

The only time I was not in control of my bike was when I was pushed off it.

I was just trying to safely move out of the traffic lanes.