They've finally put the "pub" in PedalPub.
The PedalPub, if you've somehow missed it, is a curious contraption: a 16-passenger bicycle with a bar top and a keg tap that people pay $150 an hour to ride on.
Fun stuff, but there was one problem: State law prohibited riders from drinking on it. Since the PedalPub started in March 2006, it's been used for bar-hopping tours, stopping for drinks along the way. But after a year of pestering legislators, co-owners Al Boyce and Eric Olson have good news: It's now legal to drink on the PedalPub.
The PedalPub concept came from Amsterdam, where passengers have always been able to drink on board. But in Minnesota, the PedalPub ran into the state's open bottle law. The owners hoped to get their 2,000-pound bicycle categorized with limos or party buses, which are exempt from the law.
Boyce caught the ear of Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, who drafted a bill to reclassify the PedalPub. The bill passed in May. The first beer was drunk on board two weeks ago.
Riders are ecstatic. Gabrielle Atwood, 25, said the change made her group's ride last Friday all the more exciting. For their tour through northeast Minneapolis, they loaded up the PedalPub with three coolers containing Pabst Blue Ribbon, vodka slushies and snacks. "It was my favorite night of the summer so far," Atwood said. "It was so fun. People were honking at us and taking pictures."
While the PedalPub duo has gotten what it wished for, they recognize the risk involved. "The tradeoff with having more business is we might have to deal with really drunk people," Olson said.
They also ended a tug-of-war with the Minneapolis Park Board over using city parkways, securing a contract that gives the PedalPub routes along such scenic locales as the Stone Arch Bridge. They've added routes around the Twin Cities, too, including a Hiawatha bar hop and a tailgating tour for Twins games.
