Nashville's pedal taverns could face restricted hours

On most days of the week, it’s a common site to see folks pedaling, drinking and hollering in long tavern-like vehicles in downtown Nashville.

They’re known as pedal taverns, and business here has exploded.

Soon, though, they could be restricted from operating during morning and afternoon rush hours. The idea: remove what some say is an impediment to traffic when cars are backed up the most.

An ordinance sponsored by Metro Council members Jeremy Elrod and Freddie O’Connell would give the Transportation Licensing Commission — the panel that oversees commercial vehicles in Nashville — the new authority to regulate hours of pedal taverns and other pedicabs and pedal carriages. It would resemble the same regulatory power the commission has over carriages.

Horse-drawn carriages in Nashville are restricted from operating before 10 a.m. in the morning or between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the afternoon and evening. It’s free rein, however, for pedal taverns — for the moment.

“I have friends and constituents who work downtown, and they have told me that one of the issues that they see, particularly in the evenings during rush hour, are that pedal taverns are an impediment to getting home" Elrod said."That they slow down traffic.

“This will give the transportation licensing commission that authority, so that they can look at it,” he said, adding that he hopes for “a good objective study” on whether pedal taverns do in fact affect traffic.

The Tennessean reported on the push for new regulations over hours of operations in November. WPLN first reported on the proposed legislation, which the council approved on a procedural first of three votes Tuesday.

If the legislation received final approval, the 7-member transportation licensing commission would decide whether to set hours of operation for pedal taverns. Transportation Licensing Commission Director Billy Fields said the commission would set a public hearing on the matter. He also said his staff would study the issue further before making a recommendation.

“I would want to ask more questions that I haven’t asked yet,” Fields said, referring to that upcoming traffic study. “We do have [restrictions] for carriages because they do move slowly in traffic and pedal vehicles move slowly in traffic as well.”

Pedal bars have operated in Nashville since 2010, with Nashville Pedal Tavern the first to launch. Sip N’ Cycle, Sprocket Rocket and Country Music Crawler have each followed. Each bike typically holds between 14 and 16 people.

They are popular especially among bachelorette and bachelor parties, birthdays and tourists in general.

Angie Gleason, general manager of Nashville Pedal Tavern, which has 10 vehicles, said the idea of restricting hours has been a topic of conversation ever since Metro started regulated pedal taverns. The Metro Council passed a set of updated regulations in 2014 that included requiring background checks of drivers, among other rules.

Gleason questions whether pedal taverns actually do slow down traffic, noting that the pedal-bar tours during rush hour usually head into downtown and thus go against the general flow of traffic. She hopes that the issue is thoroughly studied before decisions are made.

“We personally don’t see that we are specifically impeding traffic in any way during those times,” she said. “We just encourage the commission and the council that … before putting thing set in stone, actually go out there and do a study on traffic.

“And if they do see bikes out there on the streets, how many bikes do they see? Where do they seek the bikes? And how do they conclude that they’re impeding traffic and making traffic worse?”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.