Following some incidents that put the safety of passengers at risk, the General Council of the Metropolitan Transport Authority, ATM, banned electric scooters from Barcelona’s public transport system for at least six months.
For this reason, the ATM invited all transport operators (streetcars, metro, buses, Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat and Renfe Rodalies trains) to draw up a temporary regulation that prohibits users of electric scooters from boarding public transport with these vehicles.
While the goal is to move towards sustainable mobility, banning these vehicles is not the end point.
The ban was imposed because there have been several incidents. One of them was the fire and explosion of a scooter inside a Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat carriage on the route Sant Boi and Molí Nou (Barcelona), last November 17.
The incident occurred when the electric scooter was charging. The fire spread and three people were injured inside the car.
The cause of the fire was determined to be a battery problem. As a result, all passengers in Sant Boi de Llobregat had to be evacuated immediately.
No electric scooters on public transport
For his part, Marc Sanglas, Secretary General of Territory of the Generalitat, indicated that it is not yet known when the ban will come into force.
In fact, he said that each transport is responsible for independently drafting the ban, as the MTA cannot do so directly.
When the rule becomes effective, it will apply for half a year. During this time the MTA will study how to safely introduce these scooters into public transportation.
The ban seeks to ensure “maximizing safety” for users of each mode of transportation.
Within multimodal transportation solutions, the scooter is considered one of them. It is even fundamental to the concept of sustainable mobility.
The goal is to find a suitable solution as soon as possible in order to be able to put these vehicles back on wagons and buses, but guaranteeing total safety.
The Autoritat del Transport Metropolità states that these vehicles are not dangerous and they do not rule out that in the future it will be possible to access public transport by scooter.
However, it will most likely be forbidden to connect them to the network for charging.
Measure for six months
The measure is expected to last for a maximum of six months. In the meantime, electric scooters are prohibited from entering the subway, trains and buses.
After this period the MTA will decide whether to ban them completely or to come up with a less restrictive solution. The important thing is not to repeat incidents like the one in Sant Boi.
