Transport for London (TfL) has introduced that every one non-folding e-bikes shall be banned from nearly all of London’s public transport community. The ban has been pushed by the fireplace threat from common bikes transformed into e-bikes utilizing DIY kits, however extends to purpose-built e-bikes too within the title of simpler enforcement.
The new ban comes into impact on March thirty first, and applies to the London Underground, Overground, Elizabeth Line, and DLR. The solely e-bikes that shall be permitted on these companies are folding e-bikes, which TfL says are much less more likely to have been transformed into e-bikes utilizing mod kits. That exemption shall be a boon for Brompton and Gocycle, two London-based firms that target foldable fashions.
TfL says that “cycles which have been tailored utilizing digital conversion kits pose a larger fireplace threat than purpose-built e-bikes,” however that “it may be exhausting to distinguish” modified bikes from different fashions. The group provides that the ban is critical “till improved product security measures are in place” for conversion kits, batteries, and chargers.
The ban follows a number of fires on public transport linked to e-bikes, together with one which burst into flames on the platform at west London’s Rayners Lane station. Following that incident, the prepare drivers’ union ASLEF threatened a strike if security measures weren’t applied, which was backed by the separate RMT and TSSA transport unions. E-scooters have been banned throughout the community since 2021.
“While we recognise the sustainable advantages e-bikes, and micromobility typically, carry to our metropolis, the fact is that throughout London we have been seeing an e-bike or e-scooter fireplace each different day, on common, and we now have specific concern concerning the threat posed by conversion kits or modified e-bikes,” London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Charlie Pugsley says. “When these fires happen, they are often sudden, extremely ferocious and produce smoke that’s extraordinarily poisonous.”
Full-size bikes — digital or in any other case — are already not permitted on London’s bus and tram companies, and are solely allowed on sure elements of the Underground community at sure instances, with a blanket ban throughout rush hour. Once the electrical bike ban comes into impact, non-folding e-bikes will solely be permitted on the Woolwich Ferry, sure river and coach companies, and the devoted Silvertown Tunnel Cycle Shuttle, which opens on April seventh.
