Fewer scooters, more rides: Belgium’s shared mobility matures

Shared mobility in Belgium reached record levels in 2025, with more than 32 million trips made using shared bicycles and scooters, even as fleets were reduced in key markets.

The findings come from Shared mobility in Belgium in 2025, published by Way To Go, a Belgian centre for shared mobility. The report describes “new heights for shared mobility in Belgium” and notes that “in many segments, use is rising faster than supply”.

For shared scooters, the number of vehicles fell by 35 percent, while trips increased by 21 percent. Way To Go describes this as “an increase in efficiency” and evidence that shared mobility “is becoming more mature: fewer vehicles on the road, but more people using them”.

Brussels reduced the number of scooter operators from nine to two and imposed fleet caps, leading to a 44 percent drop in scooter numbers. Despite this, more than 9.5 million shared scooter trips were recorded in 2025. The average number of trips per scooter per day rose from 1.9 to 3.6. According to the report, Brussels “combines high density with intensive use” and shows how “well thought-out regulations lead to more efficient use”.

Shared cycling also expanded significantly. Belgium counted 28,158 shared bicycles and 1,038,061 active users in 2025. For the first time, a majority of the fleet is electric, with 52 percent of shared bicycles electrically assisted. In Brussels, electrification reaches 78 percent.

Flanders accounts for 68 percent of all shared bicycle trips in Belgium, recording 10.8 million journeys in 2025. Back-to-many systems with fixed stations–meaning bikes can be picked up at one docking point and returned to another–remain dominant in the region and average 3.5 trips per bicycle per day. Way To Go concludes that the Flemish figures show shared mobility “is becoming structurally embedded in the mobility system” and that targeted roll-out of regional systems proves “that shared mobility also works outside major cities”.

Car sharing continues to expand. With 6.5 shared cars per 10,000 inhabitants, Belgium has “confirmed its position as the European leader in car sharing”, the report states. Flanders is identified as a “pioneer in electrification”, with almost three in ten shared cars fully electric, rising to 45 percent in the round-trip segment. This positions the region “among European leaders”, level with the Netherlands and above Germany and France.

Wallonia, while smaller in absolute numbers, recorded the strongest relative growth in car sharing. Round-trip car sharing has more than doubled since 2020, indicating “a structural change: car sharing is evolving from a niche phenomenon into a real alternative to car ownership”.

Way To Go concludes that Belgium’s three regions are following distinct trajectories. Brussels demonstrates intensive urban use under tighter regulation. Flanders is expanding geographically and integrating shared mobility into regional networks. Wallonia is in what the report describes as “a catch-up phase”, with strong growth momentum.

Overall, the organisation describes a sector moving “from an experimental phase to a structural feature of the mobility system”, marked by higher utilisation, expanding electrification and continued growth in trips.

Image: Daniel M. Cisilino | Dreamstime.com