The possibility of returning the beer wheels, which was reported on Wednesday in the List of Reports, follows from the judgment, according to which it was not the municipality that decided on the ban, but the road authorities in individual city districts.
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The action for the measure was brought by several companies that were in some way affected by the ban. The court ruled in May that the municipality should not have decided on the ban. According to the Statute of the Capital City of Prague, it is to issue traffic measures only on first-class roads, while the ban on beer bicycles mainly concerned lower roads.
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On Thursday, however, it turned out that, for example, Karlín was insured against the return of the beer wheels. Karlín did not include the city ban and the town hall issued its own. It was not overturned by the court. “The court annulled the municipal measure from 2019, which did not include Karlín. That is why in March this year, Prague 8 issued its own bans on the entry of vehicles wider than 1.2 meters for Karlín, “said Prague 8 spokesman Martin Šalek.
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The ban in Prague 8 was not lifted by the court and continues to apply. So far, the ban is in place by the end of 2020. “But the Department of Transport intends to extend it into the future,” said Šalek.
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In general, beer bicycles can go to the wider center of Prague again from Saturday. “The Municipal Court is aware that this interpretation is to some extent formalistic, however, in this respect it is a legislative gap in the statute, which cannot be bridged by a judicial interpretation,” the judgment said. Prague 4 also disagreed with the measure according to the document. The court also stated that “argumentation of the suitability, culture or aesthetics of a given means of transport” does not stand as a reason for similar regulation under the Road Act. According to the court, the municipality did not even sufficiently prove that the carts are noisy and disturb the locals.
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The city took a temporary measure after the verdict, which kept the ban in force for another 60 days, but this is not a permanent solution. Deputy Adam Scheinherr sent a letter to the city district informing them of the expiry of the measure, even though it did not mention the lost court. He cites the “negative attitude of some city districts” as the reason for lifting the ban. The letter states August 15 as the deadline for revoking traffic signs.
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The deputy also wrote that the city districts are now prohibited from approving each one separately in coordination with a measure of the municipality, which will, in accordance with the case law, concern first-class roads. “At the same time, I recommend that you agree in advance with the individual operators of these beer bikes, so-called beer bikes, on the measures you have planned, in order to eliminate possible future litigation,” wrote Scheinherr.
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The ban was approved by the municipality last year, after which its validity was delayed by an unsuccessful complaint to the Ministry of Transport from the Czech family mini-brewery Gwern, which supplies a number of beer bicycles. This company is also one of those that has successfully filed a lawsuit against the measure. The Technical Communications Administration began installing the signage in February.
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Beer bikes are another of a number of tourist attractions that residents of the city center have been complaining about in recent years. In the past, the municipality, through a change in the law, achieved a ban on Segway vehicles, and the restriction of so-called electric scooters, which resemble mopeds or bicycles in some pedestrian zones, was also addressed. The problem with beer wheels also affected other European capitals, such as Amsterdam, which was banned the year before last.
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