Hundreds of electric scooters rode into Walloon territory this week, after Liege became the latest city in the region to awake to a small fleet of units scattered around its streets on Friday.
Liege is the second city in Wallonia this week to introduce the popular scooters into its streets, after some 150 more were placed around Namur, the region’s capital city, on Thursday.
Municipal authorities in both cities gave the green light to the electric two-wheelers after approval of their respective transport plans, which seek to encourage alternative forms of mobility in their cities, while also setting out security and regulation rules regarding their use.
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In the case of Liege, the arrival of the e-scooters that have already taken Brussels by storm, is part of a plan by authorities to attract more companies specialising in “green” and shared-transportation into the city.
“[Liege] will witness a real transformation regarding mobility in the city in the coming months and years,” a city representative told La Dernière Heure.
The majority of the scooters so-far belong to American shared-transport company Lime, whose sample fleet in Liege is expected to grow to attain numbers similar to those already available other cities across Belgium.
In Namur, Lime is already sharing the market with German-manufacturer Flash, and both companies’ scooters are already sweeping through the streets of the Belgian capital alongside others from Belgian and European operators.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
