Woo Wagons Parade in Protest of Regulations Bill

Transpotainment owners staged a caravan through downtown Nashville Friday morning in protest of a recent bill allowing the city to regulate party vehicles. In particular, the vehicle operators object to a ban on alcohol while on board the various buses, tractors, hot tubs and more. You can get an idea of what the "Don't Lose the Booze" protest looks like in the tweet below:

Jim Schmitz is a co-organizer of Safe Fun Nashville, a coalition of residents and business owners in favor of party vehicle regulations. He released a statement in response to the event:

“Once again these selfish unregulated party bus operators are holding downtown Nashville hostage. Their arguments against regulation hold no water. The handful of jobs they represent pale in comparison to the thousands of jobs Nashville stands to lose as they unsafely migrate the loud bar activity of Lower Broadway to every corner of Nashville disturbing commerce, workers, students, and residents along the way. They’ve had years to regulate themselves and have done nothing. Now they are upset that those they’ve harmed over this time have said 'enough is enough'? The safety and rights of the many outweigh the inconvenience of common sense regulation on the few."

The alcohol ban is likely to go into effect in December, unless the Metro Council passes legislation to make some allowances. There have been some suggestions that transpotainment business owners may seek legal action over the regulations. 

"We support reasonable regulations, but we can’t get that," Jaime Hollin, who represents the Nashville Transportation Association — a group of transpotainment operators — told the Scene earlier this month. "Guess we’ll have to see what survives judicial scrutiny."