Despite imminent ban, beer bikes will continue to ride on Prague’s streets

A ban on beer bikes in Prague set to take effect from August has been indefinitely postponed after a complaint filed with the Ministry of Transport

Jason Pirodsky

Written by Jason Pirodsky Published on 26.07.2019 14:38:47 (updated on 26.07.2019) Reading time: 2 minutes

Prague’s new leadership has taken a number of steps to address some of its residents’ most frequent complaints since coming into office earlier this year, including banning certain busking acts and more recently prohibiting graffiti at the city’s famed Lennon Wall.

A ban on beer bikes, on which up 15 tourists can peddle throughout the city while being served pints, was also expected to take effect throughout Prague from August. The ban is already in place in certain areas of the city, including Letná Park.

But unfortunately for residents annoyed by the beer bikes – which, some claim, fill the city’s historic streets with the kind of behavior that should be reserved for bars or pubs – that ban won’t take effect next month as planned.

Gwern, one of the Czech breweries that supplies beer for the beer bikes, has filed an official complaint regarding the ban with the Czech Ministry of Transport, meaning it won’t take effect until after a ruling decision has been made.

There is no deadline for the Ministry of Transport to make that decision on the matter, though city officials hope it won’t be long.

“The company supplies beer to beer bikes, and unfortunately this is probably just a case of delaying and keeping the business alive as long as possible,” Prague Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr told the local press.

“We hope the ban will be pushed forward within a few weeks.”

Under the proposed legislation, beer bikes will not only be banned from Prague’s historical center but from the city as a whole. They represent a highly-visible form of “alcotourism” that the city’s new officials are actively attempting to combat.

Beer bikes aren’t the first tourist vehicle to come under fire in Prague: the city previously banned Segways from the historic center, an operation that included the implementation of a new set of street signs.

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Prague isn’t the first European city to implement a ban on beer bikes; in Amsterdam, where locals reportedly termed the vehicles “moron movers”, beer bikes were banned from the city center in 2017 after numerous complaints related to inappropriate behavior and traffic violations.

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