Amsterdam to ban beer bikes in city center from November

The municipality of Amsterdam plans to ban beer bikes from the city center as of November 1st, Mayor Eberhard van der Laan informed the city council on Monday, Het Parool reports.

Beer bikes are a huge annoyance to local residents. They are mostly used by tourists, who are often noisy, and regularly cause traffic jams. The municipality announced a beer bike ban in the city center last year, with the intent of implementing it on January 1st. But the Amsterdam court thwarted this plan, ruling that the municipality did not take the beer bike operator's into account.

The court ruled that the municipality should consider a beer bike corridor through the city center. Most of the beer bike operators have garages in the city center, which they will not be able to reach without passing through neighborhoods in which they are not welcome if the ban is imposed. This makes it impossible for beer bike operators to do their jobs, according to the court.

Van der Laan wrote to the city council that he considered a corridor, but decided against it. Such a corridor would lead to crowds and traffic jams in the city center, he wrote. He therefore decided to rather give operators enough time to cancel the lease on their garages in the city center and move to areas where the ban will not apply. Which is why the ban will only be implemented on November 1st.