As of: February 24, 2024, 2:49 p.m
By: Benjamin Stroka
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In Düsseldorf, among other places, e-scooters will no longer be allowed on Rheinbahn buses and trains from March 1st (symbolic images/IDZRNRW assembly).
© Michael Gstettenbauer/Imago (2)
Get on the bus and train with an e-scooter?
This will no longer be allowed in several NRW cities from March.
Anyone who breaks the rule will be thrown out.
Düsseldorf – Take the e-scooter from your apartment door to the bus or train stop, fold the vehicle as hand luggage and then take public transport to work, for example.
In recent years, this has become a convenient alternative to walking for some commuters, especially on the so-called “last mile”, the walk from the bus stop to home or to their destination.
But this will no longer be possible in several major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia from March 1, 2024.
From March 1st, some transport companies will ban the carriage of e-scooters on their buses and trains.
This applies, for example, to the Rheinbahn in Düsseldorf, the DVG in Duisburg and the DSW21 in Dortmund.
The reason cited is fire protection risks.
“Significant dangers for passengers and employees”
The local transport companies base their decision on a recommendation from the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).
After a few incidents with burning batteries abroad, he highlighted safety risks in fire protection.
“In Barcelona and London, among others, cases were observed and documented in which e-scooters self-ignited,” says the DVG in Duisburg.
The Düsseldorf Rheinbahn emphasizes that the “currently very low safety requirements for e-scooters” and the “exposed positioning of the lithium-ion batteries” are particularly problematic.
The probability of a battery fire in e-scooters is “significantly higher” than in other electric vehicles.
According to Rheinbahn, a corresponding fire involving an e-scooter on a bus or train poses “significant dangers for passengers and employees due to toxic smoke, flames and explosions”.
Gases released in such a fire are toxic even in low concentrations.
Anyone who still gets on a bus or train with an e-scooter will be thrown out
The argument is similar in Dortmund.
“We really didn’t make this decision easy.
[...] But when it comes to blatant safety risks that are assessed uniformly by all experts, we have to make consistent regulations in the interests of the passengers.
We ask for your understanding,” says DSW21 operations manager Ralf Habbes.
Anyone who violates the new regulations and is caught with an e-scooter on a bus or train of the respective company from March 1st will be thrown out.
E-scooters at Deutsche Bahn?
According to the current status (February 24, 2024), e-scooters are still allowed on Deutsche Bahn trains.
Requirement here: It must be an e-scooter that is street legal.
And: “The e-scooter must be folded and transported in the luggage rack,” says the railway.
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Transport companies are demanding higher safety standards from e-scooter manufacturers
However, the regulation does not yet apply across the board in North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR), each municipal transport company can decide for itself whether or not to ban the use of e-scooters in accordance with house law, reports
WDR
.
Rheinbahn, DVG and DSW21 also emphasize that this does not have to be a final decision.
The e-scooters could be approved for transport again “as soon as the manufacturers have eliminated the existing risk,” says the Rheinbahn, for example.
However, e-bikes or pedelecs, electric wheelchairs and electric vehicles are not affected by the decision.
Their batteries therefore already meet the required safety requirements.
E-scooters have been the subject of debate for several years now.
E-scooters have already been found in the Rhine several times, for example in Düsseldorf and Cologne, which were apparently previously thrown into the water by unknown persons.
Wildly parked e-scooters and blocked sidewalks have also frustrated many people in the past.
As a result, the city of Düsseldorf, for example, significantly tightened the parking regulations for e-scooters.
In Cologne, an e-scooter provider even withdrew in 2022.
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