On October 17 it is scheduled a meeting where the Brussels new Mobility Minister, Elke Van den Brandt, will have to face many questions from parliamentarians about scooters and shared bicycles. But La Capitale reveals that the Brussels Region will soon announce the establishment of prohibited areas to parking scooters and other shared bikes.

15 Brussels-Mobility agents will be responsible for ensuring this control. These people are already working for Brussels Mobility. For the moment, they mainly deal with complaints related to operating conditions that are addressed to the administration.

The post Brussels Region will soon announce the establishment of prohibited areas to parking scooters and other shared bikes appeared first on Brussels Express.

These 26 streets are mainly located in the city center, near the Grand Place. Moreover, areas near the major stations such as Central. Midi and North Station are also included. The list includes several parks as well.

You may be charged up to a 200 Euro fines for parking a shared bike in any of these streets for more than 24 hours.  For those who ride shared scooters and violate these regulations, they might even loose their license.

The map below shows the sidewalks in Brussels on which it is prohibited to park shared scooters and bicycles.

The post Map of prohibited parking areas for scooters and bicycles in Brussels appeared first on Brussels Express.

However, according to Brussels Mobility, these two operators have since removed their electric scooters from circulation.

In the Brussels Capital region at the end of June there were more than 4,000 electric scooters. With the withdrawal of these two operators, some 1,300 scooters have been removed from circulation. 800 of those belonged to Hive and 500 to Wind.

A third operator, Tier, has also removed 50 scooters from Brussels already.

The post Hive and Wind withdraw electric scooter operation from Brussels appeared first on Brussels Express.

Poppy, the Belgian car-sharing platform, is to offer shared scooters and electric scooters as part of its services, making it the first company in Europe to offer these three shared modes of transport under one brand.

Formerly known as Zipcar, Poppy’s services will be available in Brussels and Antwerp. In total, the company owns 1,000 cars across both cities, as well as 200 scooters and 200 electric scooters.

The company’s prices range as follows: 0.33 euro per minute for a car, 0.25 euro/min for an electric scooter, and 0.15 euro/min for a non-electric scooter (in addition to a 1 euro fee to begin using each vehicle).

The post Poppy to offer shared scooters and electric scooters in Brussels and Antwerp appeared first on Brussels Express.

The Belgian Federation of Automobile and Cycling (Febiac) has called for Brussels-dwellers to go to work more often by motorcycle or scooter in order to reduce traffic congestion in the Belgian capital.

Febiac issued this call in a statement released at the international event “Ride to Work Day”, which took place earlier today (Monday) in Brussels.

“Ride to Work Day” is an event that has been held every third Monday in June for 27 years. It aims to raise awareness of motorcycling among the general public, promote its benefits among employers and encourage people to consider trading their cars for motorcycles.

On congested roads in Belgium, motorcycle and scooter owners travel faster between their homes and workplaces by manoeuvring between cars. However, this manoeuvring is only allowed when the average speed of cars is less than 50 km/h and the speed difference between the motorcycles/scooters and the cars does not exceed 20 km/h.

Currently, not all motorcycle or scooter owners use their motorcycles or scooters to get to work due to the fact that they consider such vehicles as essentially recreational in nature. Moreover, while users of a company car are often reimbursed by their employers for the costs incurred while commuting, a person who commutes using a motorcycle or scooter usually has to personally assume the costs of getting to and from work. Faced with this situation, Febiac has recommended that people who commute using motorcycles or scooters should also receive a “mobility budget” from their employers.

Febiac has also encouraged employers to take measures to support the use of motorcycles and scooters, such as the introduction of special motorcycle/scooter parking spaces and lockers to store helmets.

The post Febiac calls for Brussels-dwellers to go to work more often by motorcycle or scooter appeared first on Brussels Express.

Brussels Mobility and the municipalities of the Brussels Region are in the process of identifying areas where the parking of scooters will be prohibited. In future, to obtain an operating permit scooter operators will be required to ensure that their scooters are properly parked.

“The objective is to protect pedestrians, not simply to collect as many fines as possible,” said Inge Paemen, spokesperson for Brussels Mobility. She added: “The UNESCO zone around the Grand-Place might well become an area where parking scooters could be prohibited.”

The fines will be collected directly from the scooter operators. They will range from 200 euros for a first offence to 2,000 euros for the fourth. In the event of repeat offences, the operating licence could be withdrawn.

On Tuesday, a video showing an electric scooter user driving through the Porte de Hal tunnel appeared on social networks. “It is strictly forbidden to ride scooters in tunnels,” said the spokeswoman for the Brussels-Ixelles police zone, Ilse Van de Keere.

The post Brussels to take action against illegal parking of scooters appeared first on Brussels Express.

For Felyx, this is its first foray abroad, after becoming settled in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. 614 of the company’s e-scooters will be located in several municipalities of the Belgian capital: Brussels-City, Ixelles, Saint-Gilles, Etterbeek and Uccle. They will be competing primarily with Scooty scooters.

If its initial expansion into Brussels is successful, Felyx will consider expanding its area of operations in the city. According to one of the company’s co-founders, Quinten Selhorst, Brussels has good potential for self-service electric scooters, due to its “international character” and the presence of “many students, young workers and expats” – people who happily use “a shared system” of transportation.

As with the shared e-trottinette services that have invaded the streets of Brussels, Felyx scooters can be located and rented via an application. Their speed is limited to 45 km/h and they are all equipped with helmets. “We are truly moving to Brussels, where we will work with a team and local partners to change batteries and repair scooters,” says Quinten Selhorst.

The post Felyx electric scooters arrive in Brussels appeared first on Brussels Express.

In Brussels and all the other European cities where the company operates, Lime will be offering free travel and helmets to EU citizens on the 26th of May, the date of the European elections.

To take advantage of the free service, simply download the Lime application. A promotional code will then be sent to you on the morning of election day, and will remain valid in Belgium between 6am and 9pm. (Similar systems will be implemented in France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic.)

Lime is keen to remind scooter users to follow the rules of good driving. In particular, they wish to emphasise the importance of wearing a helmet, of driving on the road and bike paths, of obeying the rules of the road, of not driving faster than 25 km/h, and of parking one’s scooter responsibly (that is, without hindering the passage of other road users).

The post Lime offers free trips on May 26th to encourage voting in European elections appeared first on Brussels Express.

A 41-year-old man lost his life last April in what appears to be the first fatal accident in Brussels involving an electric scooter, said a spokeswoman on Monday for the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, Stephanie Lagasse.

The police were called just after midnight on April 17th to the Chaussée de Haecht, where they found a seriously wounded man with an electric scooter at his feet.

After examining video surveillance footage, it appeared that the man was the only person involved in the accident.

The man died on April 18th.

The post First fatal electric scooter accident in Brussels appeared first on Brussels Express.