Private shared micromobility operators have been given until the 1st September 2026 to get their shared bikes and scooters out of Brussels.
The decision follows more than a two-year legal dispute involving shared micromobility operator Lime, after Lime appealed the selection process of the Brussels Region’s December 2023 tender for shared mobility services. Lime, which did not receive a license, argued that the selection process had been rushed and lacked transparency.
With its final ruling issued yesterday, the Council of State has annulled the decisions to grant the city’s current licenses held by Bolt, Dott and Voi, thereby revoking the licenses of all three operators.
In a statement to Zag Daily, Lime said: “The latest judgment confirms that the process used by the Brussels Region to award the 2023 licences was fundamentally unlawful.
“It was very exceptional for Lime to legally challenge a process like this, but we did because we believe the selection of shared electric mobility operators has to be based on a fair, transparent and legally compliant framework and we were convinced the process conducted was flawed.
“This judgment is an important recognition that public authorities must follow the rules when designing and awarding mobility licences.”
Bruxelles Mobilité, the mobility administration of the Brussels-Capital Region, posted a statement online responding to the ruling.
“The Brussels-Capital Region launched a call for candidates in 2023 to regulate a sector that had grown strongly in previous years. With this procedure, the Region wanted to put an end to the uncontrolled increase in operators and shared vehicles in public spaces. At the end of the selection, two operators received a license for freefloating electric scooters: Bolt and Dott. Three operators were selected for shared bicycles: Bolt, Dott and Voi,” the statement reads.
“The Brussels-Capital Region takes note of the judgment of the Council of State and will monitor its implementation. Brussels Mobility immediately sends an official letter to the operators concerned asking them to remove the vehicles covered by the annulled permits from public spaces.”
The Council of State gave two reasons as to why the government’s decision to award the licenses has been anulled: the decisions were not adequately justified and parts of the decree were unlawful.
“These decisions violated the law of 29 July 1991 on the formal motivation of administrative acts and were based on a call for applications based on a decree of 13 July 2023, several provisions of which were themselves illegal,” the ruling states.
The ruling rejects requests from the Region to maintain the current licenses, with all dockless operators to remove all vehicles by September 1st.
Whether or not a new license for dockless shared micromobility is issued is now down to the Brussels government. While the fate of shared e-bikes could still be determined with a new contract, the fate of shared e-scooters has seemingly been sealed. Last month, the city already announced it will ban shared e-scooters from January 1st 2027, with safety cited as the key concern. The latest ruling now brings that deadline forward to September 1st, whilst deepening the shockwaves with shared e-bikes added into the mix.
Lime said it expects the Region to establish a “fully compliant, transparent and robust tender process that addresses the shortcomings identified by the Council of State”.
“We also hope it will give Lime – just like any other operator – the same fair opportunity to compete for a licence and for the chance to operate again in the capital”.
The developments continue somewhat of a micromobility saga in Brussels – once deemed a progressive city for shared mobility – with the industry now tentatively eyeing whether this could be the start of a demise for dockless micromobility in the city.
