What began as a temporary six-month ban and was then extended for another three months will end up being indefinite. Electric scooters will continue to be banned from public transport, now with no scheduled return date.
Faced with the imminent end of the ban, in force until October 31, various public transport operators have asked the Autoritat del Transport Metropolitana (ATM) to remain firm in its current position, and the responsible administration has taken up the gauntlet. This Friday he will take the veto to the board of directors for an indefinite period of time under the argument that sufficient safety conditions do not exist for personal mobility vehicles to be able to get on Catalan trains and buses again.
The reports prepared in recent months by ATM technicians raised different possibilities, from the total ban that has ended up being imposed to the return of scooters without any limitations through an intermediate option. This route was precisely the most feasible until just a few days ago, when it was proposed that they could re-enter public transport although with time restrictions and in limited spaces, in a similar way to the limits for bicycles existing in the subway.
The fear of the operators that this half-limitation would end up being a source of conflict with travelers and the explosion of a scooter in the Madrid metro this week have finally decided the most reticent. The hardest line has been chosen, a total ban without exceptions, after seeing the images of the interior of a Madrid line 2 car completely destroyed by the explosion of a scooter battery.
The heads of Barcelona’s public transport companies throw their hands up and don’t even want to imagine what could have happened if, instead of happening when the metro was stopped in a station, it had happened inside a tunnel. It was precisely that same fear that led to the temporary ban in Catalonia since February 1, after a spectacular fire on a Railway train near Sant Boi almost a year ago. It was not the first: it was also banned on the London Underground following several incidents on the underground.
The permanent ban in Barcelona will be ratified by the board of directors of the ATM, which includes the political representatives of the Generalitat, Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). The decision, in the end, will end up being political, although the operators have made their request clear based on prevention, as well as on reports from firefighters and health experts, who have assessed both the risk of the fire itself and the smoke generated by a fire of these characteristics in a closed space such as a train car.
Mandatory homologation and stricter technical specifications that must be met on all scooters sold from January 1, 2024 are seen as the turning point for higher quality standards, although scooters that do not meet the conditions will be circulate until 2027, so the return of these vehicles to public transport is still expected for a long time.
The decision taken by the Catalan officials could be replicated by the Community of Madrid. If until now in the Spanish capital they were betting on freedom, without any type of restriction, the approach has completely changed after the spectacular images of the incident that kept a metro line closed for three hours. The Madrid government acknowledges that it is considering the possibility of prohibiting scooters from entering the subway.
It is not an isolated case, the work of the ATM has been closely followed during these months by other European cities such as Hamburg and working documents have been exchanged with various transport entities. In this sense, the ATM itself unsuccessfully requested the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) and the European Metropolitan Transport Authorities (EMTA) to take up this problem and promote a common regulation and code of good practices for all of Europe.
