2023-10-19 21:03:10
BarcelonaUnless there is an unforeseen turn of events, electric scooters will not be able to return to public transport. This is the proposal that, according to ARA, the experts have sent to the members of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM), which will meet this Friday to make a final decision. After months of study, the working group that the ATM set up to analyze the situation and make a definitive regulation on the use of scooters in public transport considers that there are no guarantees that episodes like that of now a year ago inside a Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat train in Sant Boi.
Moment of the explosion of an electric scooter in public transport.
In this way, and as long as the board of directors ratifies the experts’ proposal, the decision to restrict the access of these scooters to public transport will become final. Initially, it was decided that the ban would be temporary – for about six months – from February 1, although in June the ATM decided to extend the ban until October 31 and thus finish work on a proposal for definitive regulation on the access and safety of these personal mobility vehicles. Now, 10 days before this new deadline expires, the proposal that the ATM has on the table is to definitively ban the entry of scooters into public transport.
During these months, and despite the fact that several options have been studied that could guarantee the safe transport of this type of vehicle, the working group – which also includes representatives of the operators – has not found any mechanism that offers sufficient guarantees to the passengers Security, therefore, has ended up being imposed on the attempts to guarantee intermodality and that many users could complement their journeys by train, bus, tram or metro with the scooter.
According to sources familiar with the talks, the ATM proposal, however, plans to include a clause to be able to reverse the ban if in the future new studies appear that show that the risk of scooters catching fire and exploding inside can be eliminated of public transport.
A recent explosion in the Madrid metro
Beyond the experts’ report, the debate of the ATM’s board of directors arrives this Friday conditioned also by the explosion this Tuesday of another electric scooter in a carriage on line 2 of the Madrid metro that goes to be burned, but fortunately he did not leave any serious injuries. In fact, the Community of Madrid is already considering banning the access of this type of vehicle to public transport, a measure that, beyond Catalonia, also applies to cities such as London – where “for safety” it has been in force since December 2021 – or Paris, where the municipal service of electric scooters was closed after a referendum among Parisians rejected them to continue on the streets.
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