Come spring, Old East London may have its own BRT system, as in Beer Rapid Transit.

OK, maybe not so rapid, but much more fun.

The transit vehicle will be a PedalPub, a giant bicycle with room for 16 people, including 10 pedallers, one driver and five just along for the ride.

The transit stops for the two-hour tour known as London Libations will be east and central London’s growing club of craft brewers including Anderson Craft Ales, Toboggan, the London Brewing Co-op, Powerhouse (which will soon open in the old Kellogg plant) and Union Ten, a new distillery soon to open in Old East London.

The PedalPub is being introduced to London by Brad Oke, owner of Smackwater Jack’s in Grand Bend.

“It’s the first bike of its kind in Ontario’s southwest. It’s fun, safe and a great way to get some light exercise while touring the sights,” said Oke.

Last summer, Oke launched Tour the Shore, a highly successful bus tour of craft breweries, cideries and distilleries in Huron, Perth and Lambton counties, running as many as 10 tours a day.

Oke said “party bikes’ have been popular in Europe for some time but the phenomena has now spread to Victoria, Edmonton and Montreal as well as about 50 U.S. cities.

The PedalPub is fitted out with beer barrels but alas, they’re just decorative. Ontario law prohibits drinking alcohol on the PedalPub.

Oke said he received all the necessary approvals for the tours from police and bylaw officials and he plans to launch London Libations in April. He said it is a great outing for tourists, bridal parties or corporate functions.

“We’ll pull up, have some tastings, get an explanation of the beer and then pedal on.”

Oke travelled to Minneapolis, Minn., to pick up his PedalPub, which is manufactured by a firm in the Netherlands.

On Tuesday, the board members of Tourism London will be the first to test out the PedalPub starting at Anderson Craft Ales on Elias Street.

The PedalPub will also be featured at this weekend’s London Food and Wine show.

Oke has plans to buy a second PedalPub, which will be used for tours of the watering holes in Grand Bend. There are also plans for a walking tour of restaurants in Bayfield.

But Oke won’t be using the PedalPub for his cross-county tours of wineries and cideries.

“They only go about 10 kilometres an hour. You could almost walk as fast. It would take way too long.”

hdaniszewski@postmedia.com

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