AMSTERDAM COMING DOWN HEAVY ON LIGHT BEER DRINKERS
Amsterdam Government officials recently banned what are called beer bikes from the city’s round center streets after residents continually complained about how drunk and rowdy tourists riding through the streets were making a mess for the locals. An Amsterdam District Court ruling deemed the bikes, which hold upto 8 a “public order problem”. This allowed city officials to disallow people from using them in the city’s center. An unnamed source says: “The court approved the ban to appease the locals”.
WHAT THE HELL IS A BEER BIKE ANYWAY, AND WHY ARE THEY IN AMSTERDAM?
“The combination of traffic disruptions, anti-social behavior and the busy city center justifies a ban,” the court said during the ruling. Beer bikes are basically flat carts with several bicycle seats (and pedals) situated around a table or bar. Tourist companies rent these to riders with the idea that you, the rider, pedal through the city’s canals while drinking beer. Hold on, what? I have to work while I drink beer, this is not so European at all.
Read More:
LOCALS PISSED AT PISSED BICYCLES BEING DRIVEN BY DRUNK TOURISTS
The contraptions have frustrated local residents so much that more than 6,000 people signed a petition last year to get rid of the “terrible phenomenon.” A resident reportedly said Amsterdam “has become a giant attraction park” with the flood of tourists heading to the city each year, according to the BBC. Some have said the bikes symbolized the “wrong type of tourism” that was hitting Amsterdam.
LOCAL IRONY OF AMSTERDAM, FUNNY, BUT NOT FUNNY, LIKE WEED AND PROSTITUTION
However, some tourists have argued that the beer bikes have allowed them to see more of Amsterdam, also while enjoying touring it with drinks in their hands. One tourist told The Blot that “This is why they are pissed off? It’s not the legal weed and prostitution that causes tourists to flock here, it’s some dumb beer bike?” We couldn’t agree with you more unnamed tourist.
