The Balearic government has decided to temporarily ban electric scooters, electric bicycles and other electric personal mobility vehicles (VMPs) from train and metro services and intercity buses across Mallorca.
The measure will come into effect from December 1 2023 for an initial period of six months.
The Ministry of Housing, Territory and Mobility stresses that the measure has been taken in view of the risks involved in the access of VMP to public transport, in the same way that measures have been taken in this regard 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 and Paris, among others.
It also highlighted the number of cases of fires caused by explosions in the batteries of this type of vehicle in transport services in several cities, such as on the Madrid metro last October and in the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya in November last year.
The 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 VMPs on the TIB intercity bus service in Mallorca and to SFM facilities and trains, both train and metro services.
The ministry also said that, in order to promote intermodality in the use of public transport, it will continue to work to progressively introduce measures to encourage it and allow users to leave bicycles, scooters or other VMPs at the 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 non metropolitan areas who come to Palma already have a bicycle parking service.