Madrid bans e-scooters on public transport

After Barcelona already clamped down on e-scooters in public transport with a temporary ban after a fire on a train, Madrid and other Spanish cities are following suit with tighter restrictions.

Smoke and fire risk from defective batteries are the culprit, with a major explosion taking place in a Madrid subway in October due to a faulty e-scooter battery. From the looks of the photos, the explosion blasted out the carriage windows and did some serious damage, but luckily, there were no reported injuries.

In London, Transport for London put a ban on all private e-scooters and e-unicycles in public transport, including buses and the subway system, until further research could justify otherwise because of the risk of toxic smoke emitting from defective batteries – or worse fires or explosions. Want to store your e-scooter in the station lockers? That can’t happen either. The incident was sparked when an e-scooter caught fire on a packed train that was stopped at Parsons Green underground station – thankfully, no one was hurt, but one passenger reported smoke inhalation. This summer, Hamburg also banned e-scooters from its subway system until the transit authority Hamburger Hochbahn can be convinced otherwise.