Majority parties in the Brussels Parliament plan to enact new rules allowing communes to set specific and mandatory parking spaces for hire bikes and scooters, as well as limiting their speed in pedestrian zones and increasing checks.
In collaboration with operators, communes in the Brussels-Capital Region will be able to set mandatory parking spaces no more than 150 metres apart, thereby ensuring that users can enjoy the hire services without needing to walk very far. Those riding the hire bikes or scooters will have to finish their journeys in these set locations, Belga News Agency reports.
"This clearer legislation will help us to make the public space safer for all users," affirmed Arnaud Verstraete (Green) in a press release on Monday, adding that similar rules are already in place in Paris. The proposed legislation is supported by the other majority parties.
Importantly, communes can enforce the rules at their own discretion, meaning that in communes where there is not a problem communes don't have to put in place set parking areas.
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However, whether a commune chooses to put such measures in place or not, poorly-parked hire bikes or scooters can be confiscated by communes. In these cases, the hire operator is liable to pay a fine for the vehicle's release; this can then be transferred to the last user who was responsible for the poor parking.
The Region will also collaborate with operators to limit the speed of these vehicles to a walking pace in pedestrian zones. This measure aims to prevent accidents or annoyance from users riding at potentially dangerous speeds. In neighbouring streets, these speed limits will be removed.
The legislation proposition was co-signed by Ingrid Parmentier (Ecolo), Julien Uyttendaele (PS), Marc Loewenstein (DéFI), and Carla Dejonghe (Open Vld); it will soon be debated and voted on in Parliament.
