The ban will come into force on December 12 due to “public health and traveler safety criteria.” Madrid, Barcelona and Seville had already prohibited or limited their access to public transport.
The transport of electric scooters and unicycles on public transport once again receives a new setback. This time it is Renfe, which will prohibit access from December 12, 2023, ensuring that it is a measure that looks after the safety of travelers.
It is a new blow to intermodal mobility.
Security. That is what Renfe has alleged in the statement announcing that, starting next December 12, electric scooters and unicycles will have their doors closed on their trains. The ban comes due to “public health and traveler safety criteria.”
Renfe wanted to emphasize that “this prohibition not only refers to electric scooters, but also to unicycles or any other personal mobility device that is electric or equipped with batteries, with the exception of vehicles for people with reduced mobility and electric bicycles.” .
Where and when. According to the company, the decision has been made by the Board of Directors of Renfe and affects “all Renfe Viajeros trains, both Cercanías and Regional as well as High Speed and Long Distance (AVE, Avlo, Alvia, Avant, Euromed and Intercity).
The new ban will come into force on December 12, at which point Renfe reserves the right to expel any traveler who fails to comply with the rules. It points out that random checks may be carried out to guarantee that these devices are not transported and, in addition, that the Cercanías stations managed by Renfe will be informed of these prohibitions.
Danger situation. This is the type of risk with which passengers who share a car with the owners of this type of device travel on Renfe, according to the company. They assure that the history of explosions in cities like Madrid or Barcelona supports this type of decisions.
Electric scooters and other battery-powered vehicles can be at risk of catching fire if they are mishandled, kept in unsafe conditions, charged with inappropriate devices, or damaged.
In these cases, the explosion is a real danger for passengers, since the chemistry is highly flammable and a small battery can cause serious injuries or burn a large surface of the carriage. The images of the fire in the Madrid Metro, the latest incident in Spain, speak for themselves.
Two fires were enough. In November 2022, an electric scooter caught fire inside a Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) car in Sant Boi de Llobregat (Barcelona). Shortly after, this type of transport was prohibited by the Autoritat del Transport Metropolitana (ATM) of Barcelona.
In Madrid, the fire happened last October. In this case, the electric scooter caught fire in a Metro car and stopped a line for three hours. Just a few days later, the Community of Madrid confirmed that this type of vehicle was prohibited within Metro facilities.
They are not the only ones. But to the Madrid and Catalan prohibitions we must add that of Seville, which began the year 2023 by prohibiting the access of electric scooters to the Seville metro at peak hours, when there is the greatest influx of passengers in its carriages.
Renfe highlights in its statement that these devices are also prohibited on public transport in London or Hamburg and on train services in the United Kingdom or Ireland. In New York they have also experienced risk situations caused by the explosion of electric scooters.
Voices of protest. But although access with electric scooters to public transport has been prohibited in these cities, there are other places like Valencia or Bilbao where the only restrictions have to do with the greater or lesser influx of passengers at any given time. It is public service workers who can deny access.
The controversy around electric scooters is important. There are those who consider that those who prefer to opt for public transport to go to work are mistreated, as reported in the Diario de Sevilla or in Las Provincias. Other users are in favor of the ban, especially in transport where tunnels are used.
Hard to fit in. And that is key. The truth is that public transportation can travel thousands of kilometers without seeing any electric scooter fires inside. However, the explosion could be so damaging that its consequences are prompting authorities to be cautious.
The problem is that many cities are promoting more sustainable and less polluting mobility.
Here, intermodality is decisive, combining different means of transport to abandon the private vehicle. Electric scooters served this purpose wonderfully to combine trains and buses with them.
However, the fit of the electric scooter in the city remains complicated. Firstly, because of their space, since the DGT decided to limit them to asphalt with the aim of homogenizing municipal regulations. And to this is added the shared rental electric scooter, whose misuse has ended up forcing cities to limit the number of them or even expelling them from the city, as in Paris.
