Etterbeek to make scooter drop zones mandatory from 6 November

The Brussels municipality of Etterbeek will make designated drop zones for rented scooters mandatory from next week, hoping to curb the public nuisance issue stemming from a park-anywhere policy.

Anyone wishing to park a rented electric shared scooter or bicycle in Etterbeek will have to do so in a demarcated drop zone from Monday 6 November, Bruzz reports.

With this policy, Etterbeek is hoping to get ahead of the anticipated Brussels government ordinance requiring drop zones throughout the region from 1 January 2024.

Saint-Gilles, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Koekelberg, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Jette, Brussels-City and Schaarbeek have taken similar measures in advance of the ordinance.

Carelessly abandoned scooters have become a problem in a number of neighbourhoods in Brussels, creating an eyesore at best and impeding mobility for vulnerable residents at worst.

“We wanted to tackle the nuisance caused by abandoned scooters as soon as possible,” Etterbeek's mobility councillor Caroline Joway (Ecolo) told La Capitale.

Mayor Vincent De Wolf (MR) agreed, saying “the situation has become dangerous” and that “shared vehicles have their place in our municipality, but only with respect for the highway code”.

Previous policy saw badly parked scooters in Etterbeek taken away and stored in a municipal depot, where the company had to collect them.

From 6 November, “users who do not leave their shared scooter correctly in a zone provided for that purpose will not be able to end their ride and will therefore continue to pay as long as the scooter is not in a drop zone,” Joway explained.

“We made sure that in every neighbourhood there is a drop zone every 250 to 300 metres. Some of these are set up on the roadway, others on the pavement. We took the opportunity to make the pedestrian crossings safer by removing illegal parking spaces.”

By starting the policy ahead of the region-wide one, Joway hopes to “solve any problems before New Year”.

The drop zones came about in consultation with local residents, according to De Wolf, who added: “We looked for a solution that as many people as possible could agree with.”