Brussels loses court challenge to e-scooter companies

A Brussels court has ruled in favour of micromobility operators Lime and Voi after they challenged a plan by the city to cut the number of e-scooters in operation.

The city had intended to reduce numbers from 20,000 to 8,000 beginning on 1 February with two firms – Dott and Bolt – set to become the only operators in the capital region.

But a last-minute ruling yesterday scuppered its plans.

“We’re super disappointed – the request to limit the number of operators came from the operators themselves, and there was a very broad consultation of the sector, and everyone was committed to playing the game ethically,” a spokesperson for Brussels Mobility told Cities Today.

“Most operators have done this and we thank them. We will fight and see what our legal options are following this summary judgement.”

Background

Brussels previously hosted seven firms – Dott, Bolt, Voi, Tier, Lime, Pony and Poppy – operating over 20,000 e-scooters across the city.

At the end of last year, the city government decided through a tender process to limit the number of e-scooters to 8,000, distributed among two companies – Dott and Bolt.

This was intended to bring more order to the streets following complaints from residents, mainly around poorly parked vehicles blocking pavements.

During the tender process, the city says it invited all the e-scooter firms operating in Brussels to give presentations on social and parking issues, and how they could give the best offer to the city region.

“We held a lot of meetings with all of [the e-scooter companies],” the spokesperson added.

“They were all asking [the city] to reduce the number of [e-scooter] companies that were active in Brussels – it was one of the first things that they asked.

“And we said okay, but if we do limit the number of companies, then you really have to play the game fairly.

“They said yes, and signed a paper saying that they were going to play the game fairly – then the two who lost the competition [Lime and Voi] went to the court – so it’s really unfair.”

Industry response

In a statement provided to Cities Today, a Lime spokesperson said: “Lime has taken legal action to contest the refusal of its application by Brussels Mobility, as stipulated in the rules of the ordinance, as the selection process for micromobility operators was flawed and suffered from a lack of transparency.

“While increasingly routine for many in our industry, this is a step we do not take lightly, and initiate only in the most concerning of cases.

“Lime is always in favour of improving regulation for shared electric mobility. We have taken part in 67 similar competitive permit processes over the past two years, in 20 different countries in Europe and the Middle East.

“This extensive experience is why we were so troubled by the abnormal, accelerated process, carried out by the region in less than 30 days.

“This process did not allow for a thorough and fair analysis of the 27 separate applications from 15 different operators. Indeed, while most major European cities allocate several months to this selection process, the Brussels Region did not keep to its own stated timetable, instead preferring to rush its decision-making and not respect the multi-stage evaluation criteria it established at the outset.”

Commenting on the court’s decision, Voi’s Chief Commercial Officer Olivier Van Calster said: “Our success is based on a philosophy of productive partnerships with the cities which host us, from Oslo to Seville and from Stockholm to Berlin.

“We have been present in Brussels since 2021 and we’re very proud of our contribution to the city, whose vision we fully support, and which is in line with the founding principles of Voi.

“We are also fully aware of and support the importance of effective regulation to ensure both the quality of service and the safety of users and non-users.

“As part of the call for tenders in Brussels, it is with regret that we had to resort to legal action. We took this step as a last resort, to ensure that the process complies with public procurement rules and to protect the employment that we have created.

“We are willing to work with the Brussels region to define together the best path towards our common vision, in strict compliance with the rules governing public tenders, so that we do not create extra clutter on the pavement.”

A Dott spokesperson declined to comment directly on the court’s decision, but added: “We fully support regulation, which we believe leads to a better experience for the user and all city residents. Limiting the number of operators helps improve integration on city streets, and we look forward to working with the city of Brussels following their tender decision.”

Cities Today approached Bolt for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Image: Alexandros Michailidis