Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas announced on October 15 that he wants to remove shared e-scooters from the city. “Scooters are riding against traffic, users are behaving dangerously, and the number of accidents keeps rising. It’s a disgrace, and it’s going to stop,” he said.
Has the decision already been made?
No. The mayor will put the proposal to a vote at a meeting of the Lisbon City Council (Câmara Municipal, the municipal body comprising the mayor and city councillors) on Wednesday, October 21. For now, the rental services are operating as usual.
How will it work?
The city will terminate its agreements with the operators, who will then have 60 days from notification to remove their scooters. Deputy Mayor Gonçalo Reis expects the city to be scooter-free by January 2027 and says there are no plans to bring the rental services back. The ban will not affect privately owned scooters.
Why now?
City services remove more than 1,200 abandoned scooters every month. The number of removals has increased by 40% since 2024, even though the city signed an agreement with operators in 2023 intended to address the problem. In addition, the Portuguese Automobile Club (ACP) has collected around 20,000 signatures in support of a city referendum on e-scooters.
What do critics say?
The Socialists (PS, the main opposition party on the city council) have called the ban an admission that Moedas’s policy has failed. Operators Bolt, Lime and Bird have yet to comment on the new decision. In the summer, they argued that a ban would not make the roads safer.
What will replace them?
Moedas has promised to develop Gira, the city’s bike-sharing scheme. The network is currently going through a difficult period: in August, a wave of vandalism led to stations being closed and bikes being damaged faster than the city could repair them.
Helmets for everyone
On September 30, Parliament gave initial approval to a PSD bill requiring helmets for people riding e-scooters, e-bikes and electric unicycles. Reflective clothing would also be required after dark. If the bill passes in its current form, e-scooter riders who break the rules could face fines of €60 to €300. We have already reported on what the proposed changes would mean for Lisbon residents and how mandatory helmets could affect the Gira bike-sharing scheme.
According to data from the GNR (National Republican Guard), around 1,900 e-scooter accidents were recorded in Portugal between 2019 and 2025, resulting in 10 deaths.
