Metro Nashville cannot enforce some of its new regulations for party buses operating downtown, a judge ruled Friday.
Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal said in an order that Metro could not, at least for now, require transpotainment operators to fully enclose their vehicles or obtain liquor liability insurance. The city can, however, enforce its limits on party buses operating during rush hour or late at night.
The regulations are new, as the state legislature this year granted cities the authority to regulate the party vehicles, a common site on downtown Nashville streets.
Honky Tonk Party Express, which operates a dozen party vehicles, argued in its lawsuit that Metro had set an arbitrary timeline and that it would be impossible and prohibitively expensive to enclose their vehicles and acquire the insurance in time for the regulations to go into place next week.
Metro, through the Transportation Licensing Commission, is already reconsidering the insurance requirement, which does not apply to other transpotainment offerings like pedal taverns. The commission at its Sept. 22 meeting decided to indefinitely defer the insurance requirement after Metro staffers told the board there was just one known company offering the required insurance.
“We are pleased that the court ruled at this stage of the case in favor of the hours of operation regulation, a cornerstone of the TLC’s efforts," says TJ Ducklo, a spokesperson for Mayor John Cooper. "The mayor’s staff will work with Metro Legal and the TLC to discuss whether the feasibility and timing concerns about the mandatory enclosure requirement can be addressed in a responsible manner. The mayor continues to believe that it’s past time to address the safety, traffic and quality of life issues that impact all Nashvillians who live, work, or visit our downtown.”
Honky Tonk Party Express did not respond to a request for comment.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
