TOP STORIES 🔥

🍋‍🟩 Lime squeezing every last drop out of Brussels

Last week, Lime were told to withdraw scooters from Brussels ‘immediately’, following the expiry of their permit.

In December 2023, Bolt and Dott were the two operators selected to take forward the shared scooter scheme in the capital. However, Lime and Voi appealed, claiming that the accelerated selection procedure was not transparent, and that Brussels had not been able to make a thorough and fair analysis of 15 applications in less than 30 days.

The court ruled that Lime and Voi could continue to operate until their licences expired (3rd July and 23rd August, respectively).

So Lime’s time is up - or so it seemed. Another (unspecified) operator has offered Lime the ability to operate under their still-valid licence whilst their legal challenge to the tender is pending.

Brussels, it seems, will have to wait a little longer to have their scooter fleet capped at the desired 8,000.

 🤬 Vélib’ ridership strong despite record vandalism

With 49.3 million trips in 2024, Vélib’ remains the most-used shared mobility service in Europe. The first half of 2025 shows a positive trend, with ridership increasing by nearly 10% between January and May. In May alone, the service averaged 160,000 trips per day, with 56% made on electric bikes.

However, this strong momentum may be at risk. Since early June, the service has been facing a serious wave of vandalism, with over 3,000 bikes going missing last month alone.

Vandals, having learned via social media how to forcibly detach the bikes from their docks, use them until the automatic lock activates after 24 hours—at which point they are abandoned. Operator Smovengo is struggling to retrieve these bikes, as Vélib’ models are not equipped with GPS trackers, making recovery difficult.

More monthly data on Vélib can be found here.

LAUNCHES & EXPANSIONS 🚀

Beryl
Re-launch in Stevenage (UK)

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Launch in…

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CITY UPDATES 🌐

Catania (IT) | Car & bike sharing to restart in September, and refunds for users who had their subscriptions cancelled when the previous system was cancelled.

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INDUSTRY NEWS 🗞️

Bolt, Lime and Bird say they are not covered by new Portuguese insurance regulations.

FREENOW partners with Voi in Ealing (UK).

Neuron and Beam agree to merge to form a leader in APAC.