Car-sharing firm Ubeeqo quits Brussels

Brussels car-sharing scheme Ubeeqo has ceased operations - as management see more potential in electric moped-sharing than cars.

The service, which launched in 2017, was available for the final time last Friday. Its fleet of 100 vehicles - mostly VW Golfs and Fiat 500s - is being removed from 45 docking stations around the city.

Customers who had a subscription to the service will be refunded. Ubeeqo's main shareholder was Europcar, which also owns the Scooty electric scooter-sharing service.

"Our public station-based car-sharing services no longer operates in the city of Brussels," the firm said in a statement.

"This allows us to fully focus on Scooty, our free-floating scooter-sharing business in Brussels and Antwerp, with a strong scale-up of new scooters in these cities for summer 2019."

Management said Scooty had more potential to become "a strong and iconic local business and brand".

Earlier this year it looked as though another car-sharing scheme, Zipcar, was closing - but it has found a new backer in Belgian car importer and distributor D'Ieteren, which already runs a similar scheme in Antwerp under the 'Poppy' brand.