2023-08-25 07:12:00
When you open a micromobility application, the limits of the Brussels Region form a border that could not be clearer. Impossible to take a scooter in a municipality of the Rand to go to Brussels. Conversely, he is not authorized to finish his race in a Flemish entity on the outskirts.
A situation that companies operating bicycles and scooters in Brussels deplore. “There is a demand,” says François-Xavier Giraud from Tier. “We see for example a lot of parking of vehicles on the border between Berchem and Flanders. It shows that people stop and continue afterwards in other ways.” “We are very interested in serving these municipalities”, confirms Marc Naether, at Bolt. “If, for example, we take tram 3 and arrive at Esplanade, we should be able to take a scooter to go to Strombeek-Bever”, illustrates Yessin Aattache from the operator Voi, for whom a dozen drop-zones per entity would be sufficient.
According to the operators contacted, the priority area for deployment would be the north between Dilbeek and Kraainem. “In the south, the distances are greater and there is less continuity with the territory of Brussels.”
“We don’t want it”
But while the Brussels Region opened the door to scooters in the 19 municipalities in 2018, the entities on the outskirts are putting the brakes on. With real veto power: in the absence of a regional framework, each municipality decides its rules on its territory.
Despite the different majorities, a similar position emerges on the periphery with regard to scooters. “We don’t want it”, summarizes the mayor of Zaventem, Ingrid Holemans (Open VLD). Exactly the same story in Grimbergen. “We don’t want scooters in our town. It is dangerous, generator of many accidents. And that creates nuisance on the sidewalk”, justifies the alderman Philip Roosen (N-VA).
An idea shared by his counterpart from Wemmel. “Scooters? There is no desire for development in Wemmel,” says Vincent Jonckheere. In Kraainem, same register. “It’s not a priority”, explains Alderman Johan Forton, who says he has “never been contacted” about it and has not yet addressed the subject in the college of aldermen.
North of the Rand, Vilvoorde is an exception. In the Zennestad, a regulation theoretically allows the implementation of scooters, but the file is at a standstill. “In principle”, the majority of Hans Bonte (Vooruit) does not block the finish, tells us the alderwoman Barbara de Bakker (Groen). But still no concretization on the agenda.
Legislation without homogenization
In short, a great reluctance in the Rand. And in Brussels – regional autonomy obliges – the new legal framework disregards these border issues. As of 2024, only two scooter operators will remain in Brussels, with a limited number (4,000 machines per company). A restriction which, the operators hope, will be taken into account by the municipalities of the periphery in the context of their future decisions. “After 2024, if a municipality in the Rand launches a call for tenders, only the two operators selected in Brussels will respond. The others won’t see any interest in it,” says one company.
Another aspect. At Tier, there is more potential for shared bikes than scooters in the Rand. “It is particularly more suitable for long distances.” The Flemish municipalities questioned say they are in fact rather favorable to shared bicycle projects, such as the one currently in the making within the “Vervoerregio Vlaamse Rand” bringing together around thirty entities from Rand and Pajottenland. A network of bicycles connecting the localities of the periphery with each other… but which, a priori, will remain limited to the regional border.
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