Love them or hate them, pedal taverns and similar "transportainment" vehicles are a fabric of Nashville tourism, and the demand for them has done nothing but grow over the last few years. What started as just a few pedal taverns has grown to tractors, fire trucks, open-air trailers, boats, party buses, and so many more.
While they bring in enormous amounts of money to the city, they also create potential safety hazards a nightmarish traffic situation in downtown, especially in the tourism boom months of spring and summer.
Well, Mayor John Cooper is working with the state government to finally add some regulations in the industry, including (according to a press release)
1. safety policies for both participants and residents;
2. the presence of industry vehicles on local roads during peak commute times; and
3. preventing local business disturbance by loud music during normal hours of operation.
Unlike the constant battle against scooters in downtown Nashville, the government is not trying to ban pedal taverns, but instead trying to close a loophole that allows vehicles in the transportainment space to operate independently and not under any kind of government authority.
The new bill, which is still in the very early stages of approval, would simply try to manage the noise disturbances and traffic logjams caused by a huge surplus of these vehicles.
So, imagine, there could soon be a day where you don't get stuck behind a party barge in rush hour traffic.