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City councils in Brussels cannot make up own rules for scooters, says Council of State

18:01 20/11/2019

The Council of State has declared that Saint-Josse is not allowed to ban electric scooters from any of its streets and that scooter users are not required to park them in designated spots identified by the municipality.

Saint-Josse is one of several municipalities to try to create regulations around the use of shared electric scooter schemes. Concerned about pedestrian safety, the municipal council banned their use on pavements early this year. It also required users to park them in one of four designated zones.

The then mobility minister Pascal Smet informed the municipal council at the time that mobility was a regional issue and that the regulations would probably be unenforceable. The Capital-Region took the matter to the Council of State, which agreed.

The decision sets a precedent: Municipalities cannot make decisions about the use of electric scooters. It also effects regulations that have been passed by councils in Ixelles, Saint-Gilles and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.

For its part, the region did designate some no-parking zones last summer, including in Grand Place and in Josaphat Park. It is currently running a pilot project on designated parking areas near train stations.

Photo: Eric Lalmand/BELGA

Written by Lisa Bradshaw