Bikes and scooters to be banned from Brussels pedestrian zone

From January 2026, bicycles and scooters will be banned from the pedestrian zone in central Brussels.

The aim of the pedestrian zone in the city centre was initially to allow pedestrians, cyclists and scooter users - electric or otherwise - to coexist in the public space.

But complaints about speeding cyclists and scooters colliding with pedestrians cropped up almost immediately.

Banning them was part of the majority agreement of the new coalition (PS-Vooruit; MR-Open-VLD and Les Engagés-CD&V), RTBF reports.

The ban comes after other attempts to regulate coexistence in the green space, for example by limiting the speed of bicycles and scooters to 6 km/h, which is the speed of brisk walking.

But the measure was rarely respected, as even policy officer Thomas Deweer of Fietsersbond (the Dutch-speaking cyclist association) agreed.

But Deweer said only a minority of cyclists are responsible, which is why both Fietsersbond and Avello (formerly Gracq, the French-speaking cycling association) are against the ban.

Deweer said the decision was "too radical" and that the City is not offering any alternative to cyclists, other than using the roads parallel to the pedestrian zone, a solution considered dangerous by both cyclists’ associations.

Brussels authorities still have time to sit down with cyclists' representatives and come up with possible solutions.

Also opposed to the ban are bicycle delivery couriers who work with most of the restaurants in the city centre.

Alderman Anaïs Maes has not proposed any concrete solutions, other than allowing cyclists to cross the pedestrian zone laterally from east to west or west to east, even if it means walking with their bikes in hand to reach the restaurants and cafes located on the pedestrian zone.