Image
A beer bike in Amsterdam, on the corner of Rozengracht and Marnizstraat, 21 Aug 2016 (Photo: Zachary Newmark/NL Times)
- Credit:
A beer bike in Amsterdam, on the corner of Rozengracht and Marnizstraat, 21 Aug 2016 (Photo: Zachary Newmark/NL Times)
Another Amsterdam district set to ban tourist “beer bikes”
The PvdA and D66 are preparing a ban for beer bikes in Amsterdam-West. These bars on wheels will no longer be allowed in Amsterdam Center, which makes the parties fear that they will move into other city districts, AT5 reports.
If it is up to the two parties, beer bikes will also be banned in West from 2017. "If you look at the inconvenience and risk on some bike paths, you must say: 'Enough is enough'," Pieter Rietman, the D66 faction leader in Amsterdam-West, said to the broadcaster.
Beer bike owners and entrepreneurs are obviously against this ban. According to their legal adviser, Jobien Monster, a ban may not even be possible. "The complaints about beer bikes regard, for example, rowdiness, drunkenness, traffic problems and noise", he said to AT5. "But on the moment that the violation is really serious, it is often already banned under current regulations. So the question is, what more are you going to ban with a beer bike ban? What grounds to you have to specifically ban the bicycles?"
It is unclear when this matter will end up in court.