Joe Bikerider

I guess these have become popular with those who can't wait until after the ride. Imagine one riding down you favorite MUP, See:

Amsterdam bans beer bikes amid complaints - BBC News

On your left!

jefnvk

Yeah, those pedal pubs are popular around me, they certainly elicit a lot of hate.

Why wait? Amateurs

Doctor Morbius

Given that it's Amsterdam I would assume every bike is a beer bike.

TheLibrarian

On a lighter note!? I'm pretty well outraged. My bigger concern is their equating the wrong types of tourists with the poors.

CliffordK

Oh, we have one of those here in Eugene
Pacific Pub Cycle


It looks like Bend has one or two too.
https://cyclepub.com/




Perhaps it is time for all the Amsterdam tourists to come to Oregon.

Scooty Puff Jr

We have them here in downtown St. Petersburg, though they are powered by “drunk people”, there’s a designated driver thats employed by the company that rents them. The driver has full control of the steering and braking, I haven’t heard anyone around here complain about them.

McBTC

Wow, takes a village to go for a ride-- thank heavens they're not smoking dope too...

CliffordK

Oh, great idea. I could imagine the circular bike above being used as a bong bike... or a Hookah bike.

canklecat

Amsterdam seems less fun all the time. Too bad I missed the Pulp Fiction era.

BobbyG

Wouldn't a recumbent be more appropriate for those?

Stadjer

That has been an issue for over 15 years, you're still allowed to drown your fries in mayonaise though.

The problem is that if you allow anything, you invite parasitic behaviour. Bar owners for example get fined for customers drinking outside the sidewalk cafe limits. That looks petty, but if they don't the bar owner will expand the sidewalk cafe into the street and further on to the sidewalk, blocking traffic. The bar owner doesn't care, he makes more money with more customers, if you'r own money is involved, it gets very hard to find the balance between all interests involved, so the city council has to do that for them and enforce that balance.

The beer bike entrepreneur is making money of public space too. Public space he doesn't contribute anything to, but instead spoils it for others. Same with airbnb, it's just eating Amsterdam from within, use it, wear it out, break it like it's yours, or bike share companies that just use crowded public bike parking space for free to make profits. City council has only just begun to crack down on that, but rightly so. Traditionally it's the city where anything is allowed, but traditionally this was also without bothering others and not for profit from tourism. This was about personal freedom, not about economic freedom at the expense of others.

jefnvk

They're becoming a thing in Michigan, and there is a LOT of complaining that goes on about them. They don't move as fast as even a regular bicycle, and operators have a habit of running them on one lane or otherwise congested streets causing a pile up of traffic. Plus the generic prohibitionist complaints about "how can you expect our children to grow into productive adults if they see people drinking in public"....

That said, many now have an electric motor that the driver can hit to get them moving in areas they are causing a problem.

Worknomore

But they still have the bong & hooker bikes right?

CliffordK

You mean like people advocating taking the lane on their bicycle on congested streets?

At least these vehicles have a dozen people "taking the lane".

Oh, and working off those beer bellies too.

jefnvk

Pretty much. I really don't care one way or another myself, but to me there is a bit of a differentiation between a commuter on a bike causing a bit of a backup and a for-profit business doing the same. They really aren't out at times that cause that big of an issue, but like horse drawn carriages on a one lane road that plod along at a walking pace they can be tedious when you wind up stuck behind them.

CliffordK

I would think that most of them have a fairly regular route. So, one would think they would work with a community to find an approved route (or several). Residential neighborhood streets might be nice, except for the NIMBY effect. Public drinking? Log Trucks often have approved routes as part of their permits, so it is nothing entirely new.

I did a dinner cruise in Portland a couple of years ago. At first the boat went south along an unobstructed route. Then to finish the route, it went north past the dock just far enough to force a bridge lift, then turned around and docked. I could imagine commuting on that route, and getting interrupted by the dinner boat. I think the bridge that lifted was also one of the more popular bike routes.

Anyway, if one lives near an Amish community, they use their vehicles just like the bicycle commuters, for transportation, using public access roads.

On the other hand, the urban taxi-carriages are a little different class. I suppose it is nice to see the sights in slow motion, but again, they could use (or favor) approved routes as part of the business license.

jefnvk

Would be a reasonable compromise. That said, they tend to operate in downtown/entertainment areas around pubs and sports and shows, alternate routing may not always be feasible.

As I mentioned though, they don't bother me all that much, I'm just relaying some of the concerns that are regularly aired on local news. I'll leave the problem solving for those who oppose them more!

canklecat

The beer bikes operate in downtown Fort Worth too. They look like Old West covered wagons with pedals. No problems that I know of.

Yeah, they're slow, but drivers need to slow down here. The downtown revitalization thrives on pedestrian usage. Part of downtown has been redesigned to block and divert traffic anyway and to encourage people to get out of their cars and stay awhile.

The drivers I see blasting through downtown while texting are far more of a hazard than slow moving beer bikes, or the casual cycling groups I occasionally participate in that divert through the touristy part of downtown along part of our usual 10 mile or so routes.

But I understand what @Stadjer is saying about parasitic freebooters. While I'd like to see small businesses and independents thrive as well, it should be a symbiotic relationship. History and lessons from the tragedy of the commons shows government needs to carefully manage shared resources.

northtexasbiker

Are these used as a sight seeing drinking tours or is it more or less just a way to expand a bar to the public roads?

John_V 

The first one I've ever seen was in Hungary. I thought they were cool.

canklecat

Sight seeing. They follow the same routes as the horse drawn carriage tours. I suspect that's part of the requirement for licensing -- some purpose other than just drinking beer while riding around the street.

Never tried it myself. Doesn't appeal to me but I don't object to it. I'd rather ride my bike to a favorite local microbrewery taproom.

bobwysiwyg

My wife's nephew pilots one around downtown Detroit. He gifted a ride to his sister and her friends for her 25th birthday. My wife was one, she said it was fun, toured some Detoit sights.

CliffordK

I've only seen the local one a couple of times. Looking at the website, it appears if the Eugene one runs by reservation only, with 1 or 2 reservations per weekend day during the summer (and a few mid-week) $300 for 8 to 14 riders (including tour, but not including drinks).

In Eugene, it apparently is a tour of the breweries, but one can't actually drink on the pedal bus.

I did see it also going in the vehicle-free Sunday Streets Parade.

jefnvk

Many different uses. Local municipalities in Michigan can actually determine if they allow drinking on them or not, so some are nothing but transport from one bar/brewery to another. Some follow sightseeing routes. Some turn out to be nothing but pedaling around town while drinking with friends. They are quite popular with bachelor/ette parties and corporate group outings.

markg

Visited Amsterdam back in May, and can understand why. All of the example picture posted would clog/block entire sections of narrow bike path or roads!! As it is, they are trying to figure out the right balance of bikes, motor scooters, and electric bikes on the dedicated bike paths. I was quite amazed watching how well everyone seemed to get along as it is!