By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council approved an ordinance, 6-0, for a quadricycle “party bike” business – noting there may be need to tweak the conditions down the road.
The business could be pedaling through the city in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Joe Steinmetz, of Tiffin, who first introduced the idea of a party bike in Bowling Green in January, stressed that the business wants to be a good neighbor.
During a Transportation and Safety Committee meeting before City Council Monday evening, Steinmetz responded to some concerns about the business. Though the 15-seat bikes allow passengers to consume beer and wine, Steinmetz assured council that the quadricycles won’t be “rowdy” or “fiascos.”
“I’m going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that we’re not that,” he said.
“Our target market isn’t college kids – even in Tiffin, with two colleges, they don’t ride the bike,” Steinmetz said.
Most students aren’t interested in paying $20 to ride, plus buy their own drinks, he said.
The target market, according to Steinmetz, includes “30-somethings up to senior citizens.”
The Tiffin Pedal Company, which has operated in that community for four seasons, calls itself an entertainment service that Steinmetz described as an “oversized golf cart.”
The bikes are used for occasions like bachelor/bachelorette parties, bar crawls, birthdays, anniversaries, and beer/wine tastings. The service also partners with local businesses for specialty rides like town history tours, birthday parties for kids, stops at local eateries, plus ice cream or park crawls.
The bike company supplies the driver.
Passengers aged 21 and older are allowed to have alcohol on the bike legally. The customers bring their own alcoholic drinks, which are limited to beer or wine. Each person is allowed 36 ounces of beer and 18 ounces of wine on the bike at one time. If riders run out, they can restock at stops along the way.
Most groups rent the bikes for two-hour increments, Steinmetz said. They pedal 20-25 minutes, then stop at bars or businesses that sponsor the quadricycle. In Tiffin, the bikes travel in the downtown area, through neighborhoods and parks.
One resident who lives on East Court Street, near downtown Bowling Green, voiced concerns about the business bringing more alcohol and trash into neighborhoods.
“My main interest is in knowing how the use of alcohol is going to be regulated on the quadricycles,” Rose Drain said. “We live in a neighborhood that sees plenty of people who are having fun on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.”
“I have not been impressed in the cities where I have seen them in operation, with the behavior of the people on the quadricycles,” Drain said. She described the behavior as “appalling” in one city.
“Do we want our city to have the character of a party town?” she asked.
Council member Bill Herald, who heads the transportation and safety committee, explained that city’s cannot prohibit quadricycles in Ohio.
“If we did nothing, the business can come to Bowling Green,” Herald said.
The riders are limited in the amount of beer and wine they can have on the bikes, and Bowling Green has restricted the bikes from operating between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., Herald said.
The city’s ordinance also includes the following requirements:
- Operators need to register with the city, listing information such as company and local contact information, plus number of vehicles.
- Those operating commercial quadricycles will have to show proof of liability insurance.
- The bikes will be prohibited from stopping for loading and unloading in marked lanes of traffic.
Drain asked who is responsible if riders consume too much alcohol. City Attorney Mike Marsh said the owner of the business and the employee operating the quadricycle would be responsible. It will also be the responsibility of the owner and operator to check riders’ identification.
Drain also asked where the riders will go to the restroom, since there are no public restrooms in the downtown. Steinmetz explained that they will use the restrooms at the businesses they patronize on the route.
There are no traffic laws prohibiting the 15-seat bikes, which can operate wherever vehicles are allowed, Herald said.
“My concern is – will it impede traffic?” Herald said. “We have assurances that this is not the business owner’s first rodeo, and they know how to handle all that. I’m interested to see how that works.”
If traffic backs up behind the quadricycles – which top out at 4.5 mph – the drivers will pull over to let traffic flow through, Steinmetz said.
“We do everything we can to keep out of the way,” including dropping off customers behind businesses, he said.
The drivers are trained in keeping riders from getting “too crazy,” he said, adding that the business has never had to call for police assistance in Tiffin.
“We’ve never had to do that, and I just don’t see it happening,” he said. “If somebody’s too intoxicated to ride, we’re not going to let them on.”
“I hear you and we’re going to do everything we can,” Steinmetz said in response to concerns. “Nobody’s going to be fully comfortable till you see it in operation.”
Herald suggested that the transportation and safety committee revisit the quadricycle ordinance in six months to see if revisions are needed.
But the other committee members, Jeff Dennis and Joel O’Dorisio, said a review will only be necessary if problems arise.
After the council meeting, Police Chief Tony Hetrick said he has some concerns about the quadricycle operating in Bowling Green.
“I am a little concerned about the number of OVI drivers in the community,” Hetrick said, noting that the police division arrests about 200 intoxicated drivers a year. “I am fearful there is going to be an accident.”
However, the chief acknowledged that the quadricycles operate safely in many cities.
“They’ve worked in other communities,” he said. And the business owner seems committed to working with the community, Hetrick added.
