Some of the critics’ least favorite things about Boise’s bicycle bars are going away.
Loud music? That’s gone.
Open alcohol containers? Those are out.
Pedaling around during rush hour? Not anymore.
The oft-maligned trolleys, which are mostly human-powered vehicles typically ridden by people who are drinking and singing while (slowly) cruising along Boise’s streets, are still approved to roll around the city. But new rules, given final approval by the Boise City Council last week, will severely limit them.
The bike bars have been around in Boise since 2012, when they were used primarily for people on pub crawls. In 2013, the council changed city code to permit alcohol on them. That cleared the way for the bars to be used as they often are today: a way to travel around Boise while drinking beer or wine that patrons bring themselves.
They often end up being disruptive, because they are slow — the bars have motors but are mostly pedal-powered — and loud. As a result, some Boiseans dislike them — including the guy who once recorded himself throwing water balloons at the bars from an apartment on Bannock Street.
Some council members were prepared a few months ago to get rid of the bars entirely.
“My general attitude is that you should be able to do whatever you want as long as you’re not bothering other people,” Councilor Patrick Bageant said in August. “These things are almost custom-made to bother everybody else to the maximum extent possible.”
Most council members, however, just wanted them to be different. Council Member Holli Woodings brought some of the bar owners to a work session in October to talk about possible changes.
At the time, owners of several local bike bars, including Boise Buzz Bike and Pedals and Pints, proposed their own potential limitations. They recommended a limit on hours, including no rides during rush hour downtown, and ending tours before it gets too late. They offered to limit both the size and the number of drinks riders could bring, cap the maximum sound level of the bike’s speaker systems, and avoid residential areas.
Mayor Lauren McLean was not impressed, arguing that the city should not have to be on the brink of creating new rules for the owners to address problems that the clerk’s office previously had approached them about.
Now, many drastic changes have been made. Though bike bars aren’t banned, they have new restrictions that might make them far less appealing.
The vehicles must conform with inspection standards, or else owners risk the suspension of their licenses. Open containers, formerly a keystone of the bike bar experience, are now prohibited. Volumes from the speakers must remain below 62 decibels — which falls in the range of a normal conversation, according to the American Academy of Audiology — and only staff members operating the bike bars can control the volume.
Furthermore, the bars no longer may operate during rush hour downtown — between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. weekdays — or operate past 10:30 p.m. any day of the week.
Speaking during the council meeting Tuesday, Woodings said the restrictions were “the most prudent course of action.”
“Hopefully, we’ll have a little bit more peaceful environment in downtown in the coming summer, but still allow the bike bars to do pub crawls as usual,” she said.
The ordinance passed unanimously and took effect immediately.
“My general attitude is that you should be able to do whatever you want as long as you’re not bothering other people. These things are almost custom-made to bother everybody else to the maximum extent possible.”
Boise City Council member Patrick Bageant, describing bike bars
