BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — For-hire electric scooters will be banned in Brussels starting next year, authorities in the Belgian capital said, citing safety concerns.
The decision makes the city the latest to crack down on the app-rented two-wheelers, with Paris, Madrid and Prague having taken similar measures in recent years.
“Too many accidents, too much disruption, too much abuse: Brussels is turning the page on rental scooters,” Boris Dillies, the head of the Brussels regional government, wrote on social media Thursday.
His administration said the licenses granted to the current service operators, Bolt and Dott, expire at the end of 2026 and would not be renewed.
People will still be able to rent electric bicycles to get around the city home to many top European institutions.
The ban has been criticized by Bolt and Dott as well as trade union ACV-CSC which slammed a “brutal” decision that put dozens of mostly low-skilled jobs at risk.
Fans hail electric scooters as an eco-friendly way to avoid gridlock but to detractors they are injury-inducing street litter and a nuisance to pedestrians.
The Brussels regional government said the ban followed an “alarming” rise in accidents involving the vehicles, with 666 people injured in 2025 due to accidents — a 26 percent increase on the previous year.
E-scooters were also often improperly parked, clogging roads and used for criminal purposes such as drug dealing, it added.