The access of scooters and electric bikes to the train and metro of Mallorca is suspended for safety reasons

The ban on scooters and electric bicycles on Mallorca’s trains and metro comes into force today. The measure, adopted for safety reasons, is temporary for an initial period of six months.

The Directorate General for Mobility and the public bodies corresponding to each means of public transport have agreed to temporarily suspend access for electric scooters, electric bicycles and other electric personal mobility vehicles (EMVs) to train, metro and intercity bus services on the island of Mallorca. The measure, adopted for safety reasons, will come into force from 1 December 2023 and is adopted on a temporary basis for an initial period of six months.

The suspension is adopted for safety reasons due to the risks posed by the access of PMVs to public transport, in the same way that measures have been taken in this sense in trains and buses in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, the Community of Madrid and in the case of EMT buses in Palma, or in European cities such as London or Paris, and the previous cases of fires caused by explosions of the batteries of this type of vehicle in transport services in several cities, such as the Madrid metro last October and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya in November last year.

Temporary ban

As agreed by the respective boards of directors of the Consorci de Transports de Mallorca (CTM) and Servicios Ferroviaris de Mallorca (SFM), the suspension is adopted on a temporary basis, for six months, from 1 December 2023 until 1 June 2024. During this period, the advisability or otherwise of extending this measure or establishing a new regulation will be assessed. This measure does not affect access for wheelchairs and vehicles for persons with reduced mobility, which are excluded from the definition of VMP in the state regulation.

The agreements establish the temporary suspension of access for electric MPVs on the TIB intercity bus service in Mallorca and to SFM facilities and trains, both train and metro services. To avoid the risk of fire or explosion in SFM facilities, the busiest of which are underground, it has also been deemed appropriate to prohibit access by VMPs to their facilities, and during this period access with these types of vehicles to Palma intermodal station is also suspended.

In order to promote intermodality in the use of public transport, efforts will continue to be made to progressively introduce measures to encourage it and allow users to leave bicycles, scooters or other VMPs at stations, such as the installation of more parking spaces inside and outside the stations, and as part of the Palma intermodal station reform project, solutions will also be sought to store scooters for users travelling to other municipalities, while, in the opposite direction, users from the Part forana who come to Palma already have a bicycle service.