Fire risk: e-scooters are banned from public transport in NRW

If you want to take your e-scooter on the bus or train in NRW in the future, you will probably be left out in the cold. Some local authorities in Germany’s most populous federal state want to ban scooters with electric motors on public transport without further ado. This is to comply with fire safety regulations.

Ban on e-scooters from March 1, 2024

It is likely to be a real bombshell for commuters who rely on a combination of e-scooters and public transport to get to work. From tomorrow, March 1, 2024, the practical two-wheelers will be banned in the five largest cities in NRW. This has been decided by the responsible municipal transport companies. They are basing their decision on a current risk assessment relating to fire safety on buses and trains. The reason for the new view is incidents in Germany that are worthy of consideration. The Cologne public transport companies (KVB), Rheinbahn (Düsseldorf), DSW21 (Dortmund), Ruhrbahn (Essen) and DVG (Duisburg) want to enforce a corresponding ban.

According to the Cologne Transport Authority (KVB), there have been several incidents in which the battery installed in the scooter has caught fire. This means that NRW is not the first federal state to impose a ban. In Hamburg, too, it is already forbidden to carry an e-scooter on public transport. However, the KVB and other transport companies explicitly do not want to take their ban too far. The ban really only applies to e-scooters. Anyone who is dependent on an e-bike or an electric wheelchair, for example, should still be able to take these with them. The decision was based on a recommendation from the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).

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The ball is rolling

The four transport companies seem to be making real waves with their decision. E-scooters will soon be banned from public transport in Wuppertal (from March 18) and Bochum (from April 1). This is complex in that each transport company is currently deciding for itself whether or not to introduce the ban. A regulation issued by politicians for the entire federal state would certainly provide much more clarity here. As the Verkehrsbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) has publicly commented, a corresponding regulation is already in the works.

The NRW Ministry of Transport even goes one step further and states that a regulation must be created that applies to the entire federal territory. A spokeswoman commented on this. According to this, it is necessary to prevent individual municipalities from introducing a ban on their own initiative, while others do not. Such “individual, exceptional or incomplete” regulations are “burdensome for passengers and the conditions and rules are difficult to communicate”. This is according to a report by Golem.de.

Repeal not ruled out

However, the ban that has been introduced does not appear to be a one-way street. On the contrary, some of the transport companies affected emphasize that it could be lifted again in the future. The prerequisite, however, is that uniform safety standards are finally introduced that indicate the safety of the battery.