Not all MUPs are created equal. Some are borderline dangerous. Others are inconvenient. Some are downright wonderful. In my case an MUP that can be dangerous in town becomes fantastic 3 miles further down the path. Some that are bad during certain hours are fine at different times of the day.
The one thing that is constant is that most of the pedestrians are fairly oblivious. Some of the cyclists are. Pedestrians, pedestrians with dogs, pedestrians with kids and kids on bicycles are very predictable in that they cannot be trusted to be alert and to be tuned into their surroundings. Knowing that we can adjust our actions accordingly. More signage may help, but there will always be those who don't pay attention to or don't understand simple signage.
Take a look at the photo of the MUP around Audubon Park. Even with markings that appear every 200 feet or so, you get pedestrians in the bike lane. Even with a steady flow of cyclists people will let their dogs and kids wander across the bike lane. People who want to enter or exit the loop often don't look for cyclists even when there is a steady procession. Now that center (ish) marking? Understanding it is completely out of the question. Even though that same marking on a roadway has a very specific meaning, the pedestrians have no friggen idea what it means on this path.
