Prague, May 23 (CTK) – Praguers are complaining about a new tourist attraction, the beer bikes, special vehicles driving through the historical centre with tapped beer served aboard up to 15 people who are “cycling,” and the City Hall is considering regulating this, daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Wednesday.
The operators of beer bikes offer an hour-and-half ride on the bike with a guide, 30 litres of Czech beer on tap and music for 350 euros, and possibly a beautiful waitress for a surcharge.
“The only person that has to be sober on the bike is the driver accompanying the whole group,” LN quotes the spokeswoman of Prague 1 district, Veronika Blazkova.
Although the beer bikes’ operators argue that they are watching over the alcohol consumption of the bikes’ passengers and would not let anyone drunk sit on the bike, this can never be guaranteed as the group’s guide and driver in one person has 15 people to check all the time, Blazkova told LN.
According to her, the Prague 1 district town hall often receives complaints about beer bikes.
“Our inhabitants would prefer not to see this here any longer. The town hall is also dealing with this, but any new vehicle must be accurately specified by the law so that its movement around the town can be more easily regulated,” LN cites Blazkova.
Meanwhile in Brno, the beer bike has been nicknamed “bike beer barrel,” and, unlike in Prague, no one has complained about it, LN writes.
From the police perspective, the beer bike is not a bike actually, but a non-motor vehicle of its own kind that is not regulated by the law, which is something worth adjusting, Irena Seifertova, from the Prague City Police, told LN.
The Prague 1 town hall has similarly fought against the Segway two-wheel personal transporters, LN writes.
“Following five years of incessant communication with the transport ministers, MPs and the Prague City Hall representatives and through an amendment of the law and by issuing a decree, removing Segways from Prague 1 was achieved,” Blazkova told LN.
Nevertheless, the attraction’s operators, who are very inventive, are currently leasing electrical scooters, which enjoy the same rights as cyclists, to tourists, LN writes.
The Prague 1 town hall is consulting the Transport Ministry on what can be done about it, LN writes.
Beer bikes were already banned in Amsterdam in the autumn of 2017 based on a Netherlands’ court decision. In its verdict, the court justified the ban on the basis of transport complications, improper behaviour and crowded city centre, LN concludes.
