This move comes amid growing complaints over e-scooters and shared bicycles being left on pavements and other areas of the city, as well as a recent petition calling for an end to dockless schemes.

Ana Abrunhosa, Mayor of Coimbra, said the city is preparing a concession process for e-scooter companies, alongside a new set of rules governing their operation.

Speaking at a municipal executive meeting on Monday, 24 August, she claimed that shared e-scooter operators currently operate without sufficient regulation.

Parking infrastructure

Under the proposed concession, companies would no longer be able to use the city free of charge, as money paid by operators would instead be channelled into infrastructure, particularly designated parking areas.

These plans represent a shift from Coimbra’s previous approach to dockless micromobility.

In 2024, the municipality approved a collaboration agreement involving operators such as Bolt and Bird, aiming to create designated parking areas and virtual “hotspots” where users could leave their vehicles.

This proposal included 128 new parking locations and 112 virtual hotspots.

However, concerns over pavement obstruction have continued.

Dockless systems

A petition launched in July calls for shared e-scooters and bicycles without physical docking stations to be removed from Coimbra.

This campaign does not oppose e-scooters or cycling as forms of transport, but argues that the dockless model has resulted in vehicles being abandoned on pavements, pedestrian crossings, public transport stops, building entrances, accessibility ramps and tactile paving.

The petition was created by Solum 15, ACAPO Coimbra and APRe!, which had attracted nearly 600 signatures by 25 August. Its organisers are calling for operators to prevent new licenses being issued for uncontrolled dockless systems.

Ana Bastos, an opposition councillor, has disputed the idea that Coimbra should scrap the service altogether. “Coimbra does not need to eliminate e-scooters”, she said. “It needs to regulate them.”

Bastos has called for stricter requirements for operators, clearer mechanisms for accountability and fines, as well as changes to the city’s existing black, red and blue parking zones.