E-scooters to be banned from public transport over battery safety fears

E-scooters are to be banned from public transport from October over fears of battery combustion.
Guidance from the National Transport Authority (NTA), published on Monday, said the prohibition was being taken for safety reasons and to help prevent the risk of combustion on board buses, trams and trains.
“The guidance is prompted by safety concerns in relation to many lithium-ion batteries which are commonplace in such devices,” it said in a statement.
“These batteries are known to develop internal faults, leading to overheating and combustion. This has resulted in recent fires and thick black smoke on board public transport in Madrid and Barcelona.”
The ban will come into place in early October and will extend to e-scooters that can be folded or carried, but not to e-bikes or mobility scooters.
E-scooter regulations were finally introduced to Ireland earlier this year. The NTA believes quality control of construction is not as advanced in e-scooters as it is in other devices.
“The tested batteries of e-bikes and mobility scooters do not pose the same level of risk,” it said.
Similar restrictions in countries such as Berlin, Barcelona and the UK have been cited by the NTA which said the ban would include taking scooters on-board Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Go-Ahead Ireland, Iarnród Éireann and Luas services.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan had been directly asked about such potential threats last May, shortly after the introduction of e-scooter regulations.
In a letter to the Minister, seen by The Irish Times, a Dublin Bus driver and health and safety representative said “these scooters are known to go on fire and explode when they do so”.
“They are carried in the luggage bay of the bus (sometimes more than one) close to the driver. Everything I read about these fires is that the fumes that are given off when this happens are very toxic and would overpower the driver easily.”
The letter, obtained under Freedom of Information, also warned that in such a scenario a driver would have little opportunity to assist nearby passengers in wheelchairs or prams.
“Drivers don’t feel safe carrying these things …I’d like to ask have you considered this hazard and do you feel we are exaggerating in our concerns?”
There was no evident reply from the Minister but in separate correspondence last February, to similar concerns, his private secretary said the issue around public transport carriage was under consideration.
Transport for London moved toward a similar ban at the end of 2021 after an e-scooter battery caught fire on a Tube train and continued to burn on the platform at Parsons Green Station.