Brussels to impose quotas on electric scooters and allow only two operators

The Brussels government plans to impose a limit on the number of e-scooters allowed in the city and allow just two ride-share companies that offer them to operate in the Belgian capital.

Like other European cities, Brussels has struggled to keep the popular form of micromobility from becoming a nuisance. Abandoned scooters are often left scattered across pavements or blocking the entrances to homes and businesses.

The region has attempted other solutions, including designated parking zones (called drop zones) for scooters and steep fines for those who do not adhere to them, but squabbling among municipalities with differing rules has made the measures less effective than hoped.

The new aim is that, by the end of this year, the maximum number of scooters allowed will be capped at 8,000 (currently 21,000), much less than initially envisaged.

The number of operators will be limited to two by the end of the 2024-2027 fiscal cycle.

There will also be drastic limits for other self-service shared mobility devices such as bicycles, and cargo bikes, and the use of drop zones will be extended to the whole of the Brussels region from next January, with higher fines depending on the need to move or remove the vehicle abandoned outside of them.

Should these measures not bring order to the situation, mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) said she is not opposed to an all-out ban, as has been done in Paris.

The draft decree for the new measures must still be submitted to the Council of State before a third and final reading, but at present the government supports it in unison.