Amsterdam alderman pushing to ban go-kart tours in city

Using go-karts to give tours of Amsterdam should be banned, Alderman Melanie van der Horst said. The alderman for traffic, transport, and air quality responded to a Tuesday report from local broadcaster AT5 about a company in Osdorp that started running go-kart tours this week. The go-karts drive through the city center of Amsterdam, as can be seen in commercial videos.

“We are certainly not in favor of having these types of vehicles in our city. I am very concerned about the traffic safety if people start using these to drive in the already busy streets of Amsterdam,” Van der Horst stated.

The company offering the tours is called Molly’s Kart. It is a part of the Japanese style arcade hall, Molly’s, in Osdorp. The concept of driving go-karts through the city has been popular in Tokyo, Japan.

But Van der Horst thinks that “crazy tours” do not belong in traffic due to the safety issues connected with it. “You have limited visibility in these types of low vehicles, and you can be easily overlooked by a truck, tram, or car.”

The alderman is going to ask the mayor to alter the rules so that the go-karts cannot drive through busy cities. Until this time, the municipality of Amsterdam is going to look into options on how to keep the go-karts out of the city.

Volt City Council member Juliet Broersen was also criticial of the idea. She told AT5 that mass tourism is one of the biggest issues that Amsterdam is currently facing, and that this is partly caused by what she describes as the "'amusement parkification" of the city.

"This is in the same group as beer bikes and penis suits and we in Amsterdam should not want that."