Electric scooters have become a popular mode of micro-mobility over the past years, but, at the same time, they have attracted a lot of controversy. One of the subjects for complaining is the careless parking, or what some would say abandonment, of the vehicles on pavements. To tackle this issue cities are creating special scooter parking zones.
While the Brussels Capital Region already has a few areas designated to scooter parling, the region’s government plans to install an additional 1,000 scooter parking zones, totalling to about 3,000 new parking spots, by this summer.
“At this stage, Brussels Mobility has created around a hundred (parking spaces) on regional roads. The municipalities have submitted requests for subsidies in order to install them. These requests are being analysed. In the region and associated municipalities, we think we can equip public roads with 1,000 drop-off zones this summer”, a spokesperson for Elke Van den Brandt, Brussels’ Mobility Minister, told the Belga news agency.
The plan is for each of the 19 municipalities comprising the capital region to be able to apply for subsidies for installing new scooter parking areas. “Funding will be distributed between the various requesting municipalities”, explained Camille Thiry, the communication manager of Brussels Mobility. However, even if the municipalities will not be granted the financial aid, they will still receive other types of support.
A bill imposing users of shared scooters and bicycles to park them in special areas is pending approval by the Council of State. In the meantime, there is a lack of such areas for people to be able to leave the vehicles. “On the occasion of the Plaisirs d’Hiver (Christmas Market), about 30 drop zones had been set up within the perimeter of the event and they are still in use”, said François Descamps, spokesperson for Brussels Mobility Councillor Bart Dhont.
Last summer, stricter regulations around micro-mobility vehicles, especially electric scooters, were introduced in the Belgian capital. E-scooters are no longer allowed to pavements and must remain on bike lanes or the road. Anticipating the creation of dedicated parking zones, leaving the vehicles at random became finable by €116. However, the inconvenience of parked scooters remained in some areas, with the municipality of Uccle completely banning shared e-scooters from parking on its territory, until the Brussels Region’s dedicated spaces are finally installed.
