The beer bike is no longer welcome in the centre of Amsterdam. The ban, decided upon by the Amsterdam Court, went into effect this week on November 1.
In the case, the old Mayor of Amsterdam, Van der Laan explained that the beer bike had caused disturbances to public order in the small, busy area of the city. The beer bike was regularly to blame for blocked roads, and participants were often publicly drunk, urinated in public places and created noise nuisance.
This is not the first time that the ban has been proposed. Last year, the proposed ban was dismissed, as the City Council did not provide sufficient evidence or argumentation. Should they have supported the case with sufficient evidence, the ban would have already been put into place on January 1, 2017.
The case was resubmitted to the Amsterdam Court before the summer, this time with enough supporting information, and those providing beer bikes were given the summer period to relocate to other parts of the city.
The providers of beer bikes are worried that the ban will have severe consequences for their businesses. Although those wishing to use the beer bikes will still be allowed to do so outside the city centre, the providers are all situated in the city centre and travelling via beer bike from the centre to permitted areas is not allowed.