Can a citizens’ petition make Brussels reconsider its shared e-scooter ban?

The Brussels Parliament must consider a citizens’ petition opposing the regional ban on shared electric scooters after the initiative crossed the required threshold of 1,000 signatures on 11 August. According to BRUZZ, the petition asks the Brussels-Capital Region to retain regulated shared scooters rather than remove them from its transport system. Reaching the threshold guarantees parliamentary consideration, not the withdrawal of the ban or an immediate vote reversing it.

The petition adds a democratic test to a policy that the Brussels government settled politically in June. The regional executive, led by Minister-President Boris Dilliès of the liberal MR party, decided that the licences for shared-scooter operators would not continue beyond 2026. Shared scooters are therefore due to be prohibited from 1 January 2027. Brussels Minister for Mobility Elke Van den Brandt of Groen said at the time that emergency services had pressed for action and that speed restrictions had not eliminated the risk of serious injuries. The government also cited obstruction of pavements and the use of scooters in some criminal incidents.

The initiative was promoted to users by Dott, one of the operators affected, through the Region’s Democratie.brussels platform. An earlier campaign was also backed by Bolt and the shared-mobility network Way To Go. That commercial involvement does not invalidate the petition, but it is relevant context: this is both a citizens’ mobility dispute and an effort by licensed operators to defend a market scheduled to close.

The immediate situation is more complicated than the January 2027 deadline suggests. Following a Council of State ruling concerning the procedure used to award shared-mobility licences, Brussels Mobility told Bolt, Dott and Voi in late July that their shared scooters and bicycles had to be removed from public space by 1 September 2026. BRUZZ reported that the administration planned consultations with the operators in mid-August. The court-related removal and the government’s political scooter ban are separate developments, although they now overlap. The first concerns the legality of the licensing procedure and could also affect shared bicycles; the second is the executive’s policy choice to end shared scooters specifically from 2027.

That distinction matters for Parliament. Members can hear the petitioners, question the responsible minister and press the government on alternatives or transitional arrangements. They cannot treat the petition threshold as a referendum result. Nor does the petition automatically suspend an administrative deadline or neutralise a Council of State ruling. Any attempt to preserve the service would require a legally sound licensing solution and sufficient political support to alter the government’s course.

Supporters of the ban place pedestrian access and injury prevention at the centre of the argument. Mobility specialist Kris Peeters told BRUZZ that the small wheels and instability of e-scooters make them poorly suited to dense urban traffic. People who are blind, have reduced mobility or use pushchairs are especially affected when vehicles obstruct pavements, even though compulsory drop zones have reduced uncontrolled parking. Brussels government figures also show how extensive the regulatory response already became: operators were reduced to two for scooters, the fleet was capped and app-based speed limits and designated parking were introduced.

The operators and Way To Go offer a different frame. They describe shared scooters as transport infrastructure used for short links, late journeys and gaps in the public-transport network. Way To Go said shared scooters and bicycles together generated 14.5 million journeys in Brussels in 2025. Brussels Mobility separately recorded 31,678 shared e-scooter rentals per day in May 2025. Their argument is not that scooters cause no problems, but that registered shared fleets can be speed-limited, geographically restricted and monitored in ways privately owned machines cannot.

University of Antwerp mobility specialist Dirk Lauwers has challenged the government’s focus more directly. In an interview with BRUZZ, he argued that high-powered private scooters can present at least as serious a danger, while shared models are restricted to 20 kilometres per hour region-wide and eight kilometres per hour in designated pedestrian areas. Privately owned scooters are not covered by the proposed regional operator ban. The federal level sets the general road-traffic rules governing their use, including the national minimum age and the prohibition on riding on pavements, while the Brussels Region controls access to its shared-mobility market, licences, fleet limits and parking system.

The political divide is therefore broader than a simple contest between scooter users and pedestrians. Vooruit.brussels supports ending shared scooters but has urged the government to protect shared bicycles, which it calls an essential mobility option, including for people travelling at night. ABVV-Metaal, the socialist metalworkers’ union, has warned about jobs held by mechanics, drivers, warehouse staff and administrative workers. Dott, Bolt and Way To Go want regulated services retained. The regional government and ban supporters answer that transport convenience cannot outweigh persistent safety and accessibility concerns.

The dispute also falls early in the 2024-2029 regional parliamentary term, giving lawmakers time to examine whether the government’s decision should be implemented as announced or adjusted before 2027. It exposes a recurring institutional tension in Brussels: the executive can regulate operators across the 19 municipalities, federal authorities govern the national road code, and the Council of State can annul administrative decisions when procedures are unlawful. A popular petition enters that system as an instrument of scrutiny, not a substitute for any of those institutions.

For residents, the practical question is now whether shared scooters and bicycles will disappear as early as September, return under an interim arrangement, or continue in some form until the scooter ban begins in January. Parliament’s handling of the petition may clarify the political appetite for reconsideration, but the decisive steps remain a lawful response to the Council of State judgment and a government or legislative decision capable of changing the existing timetable. Until those emerge, crossing 1,000 signatures gives the campaign a hearing, not a victory.