DENVER -- Denver is striving to be a bike friendly city, but some people say not friendly enough.

They cite the 16th Street Mall as an example, where bicycles are banned.

"I was riding on the mall and a cop screamed at me to stop," said David Putnam, while walking with his bike Thursday morning. "I didn't know what (the officer) was talking about, then I asked someone and they said you can't (ride on the mall.)"

Putnam, who recently moved to Denver, said he didn't see the signs prohibiting bikes on the mall, though they've been there for years.

Tony Balliviero didn't know about the signs either, until an officer on a bike pulled him over.

"He grabbed me by the back of my hood and was like, 'Get off your bike.' I'm like, 'Alright,'" Balliviero said.

Balliviero said the officer issued him a ticket.

"It was $25," he said. "I don't mind paying the fine as long they explain what the law is."

Police told 7NEWS that the mall bicycle ban exists for a reason: safety.

"The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian mall," said Sharon Avendano of the Denver Police Department.

"We have 48,000 people who use the mall on a daily basis," added Sarah Neumann of the Business Improvement District. "When you get that mix of people, the number of RTD shuttles and you add bicycles to that, it becomes very dangerous."

Avendano said even parking your bike on the mall is a no-no.

"When people chain their bikes to trees or to street lights along the mall, it can cause damage," Avendano said. "There are bike racks on the cross streets at nearly every intersection."

The strict rules don't mean the city doesn't want bicyclists downtown.

Piep van Heuven, of the bicycle advocacy group BikeDenver, told 7NEWS that bicyclists can ride on the mall bus lanes on Sundays, when pedestrian and vehicular traffic is at a minimum.

She said the city is taking other steps to help bike riders, "Adding 11 new miles of bike lanes and share lanes on the streets of downtown."

The business improvement district is also in on the action, with plans to install dozens of new bike racks downtown. The BID will also provide matching funds to businesses that want to install racks on their property.

When asked if the efforts to get more people out of cars and onto bikes means the mall rules should be revisited, Neumann said, "I think the mall is only going to gain in popularity as more people visit and live downtown. For now, we're just going to emphasize putting additional parking options for bikes adjacent to the mall, but not on the mall itself."

Van Heuven said the improvements will go a long way toward making Denver more bicycle friendly.

She added that bicyclists need to obey the rules, which exist for their own safety and that of pedestrians.

Among those rules, she said, is a prohibition against riding bicycles on sidewalks.

"Bicyclists should ride safely in the lane of traffic," she said.

Tom Woods agrees. He said the city should actively enforce that law.

Woods, a bicyclist, said the rule allowing bike riders to use the mall on Sundays isn't really a good idea, because that's the day that work crews repair the granite pavers on the mall, shutting it down for block-long stretches at a time.