No need for e-scooter ban says Farrell, but safety regulations needed

Better enforcement of quality standards in e-scooters is urgently needed to safeguard public transport options, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Dublin Fingal East TD Alan Farrell noted “cities across Europe, including in Madrid, Barcelona and London, are prohibiting the use of e-scooters on public transport as a result of the risk associated with lithium-ion batteries contained in them.”

He acknowledged there are benefits to using e-scooters, but also noted that the products have been issues related to safety due to lack of regulation.

“E-scooters provide an effective, environmentally friendly way of completing the last kilometre of a journey, often after disembarking from a bus, a train or a Luas, to ban them from our transport network will only discourage people from availing of these methods of transportation,” he noted.

However, he said that enforcing quality standards was needed.

“A solution to these issues exists without requiring a ban of e-scooters from the public transport network.”

“I believe that the introduction of a clampdown on the sale of substandard devices and ongoing checkpoints for these vehicles will allow us to identify and seize vehicles that do not meet the standards set out by the EU. Moreover, increased controls and supervision on imports can present an opportunity to prevent entry of non-compliant vehicles and batteries,” he said.

“Many e-scooters on the roads today are compliant, and we should not penalise these individuals by banning access to public transport, we can prevent and route out those that are not compliant with current standards.”

He said that recent legislation surrounding e-scooters and their ilk was a “much-needed step in providing clarity,” but said that banning them outright was not the solution.

“To ban them from public transport would be against the underlying principles of that legislation and would not address the underlying causes of sub-standard and non-compliant technology entering the marketplace.”