Germany's 'beer bikes' could be taken off the roads
| Frankfurt
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
They are a mainstay of German street life, a quintessential German way for people to hold anything from a bachelor party to a Christmas work party.
Classified as bicycles, they can ride on the streets and park wherever, and they don鈥檛 pollute. But on the street, they look like a restaurant on wheels: wide, pedal-powered, multiseat conference bikes taking between 10 and 20 party-goers zigzagging through the most crowded shopping or tourist areas. Many do not serve alcoholic drinks, but their noise and bulk often anger residents and passersby. Now the 鈥渂eer bikes,鈥� born in neighboring Holland, are under scrutiny.
Last month, a court in the western city of 顿眉蝉蝉别濒诲辞谤蹿 formally banned them, saying that the beer bikes are a traffic nuisance. The court case could bolster efforts under way in German cities from Berlin to 惭眉苍蝉迟别谤 to ban the contraptions.
