There are great differences in the world’s public transport systems when it comes to policies concerning mobility scooter accessibility. According to the United States Department of Transportation’s Accessible Transportation Act of 2023, mobility scooters with a load capacity of ≤400 pounds (181kg) and size of ≤48 inches (length) ×30 inches (width) are allowed to travel on buses and subway systems. But an electromagnetic braking system should be installed (braking distance ≤0.4m/1.2m/s speed). For instance, data from New York MTA show that in 2023, the number of commuter bus rides was processed as 920,000, occupying on average per vehicle per day 0.6 square meters, and 3.7% of total bus space (the standard low-floor bus passenger space is 15 square meters). However, Japan’s JR East Japan Company requires that the folded dimensions of a commuter car be not more than 70×50×100cm (0.35m³ volume) and battery capacity not more than 160Wh, and only 37% of the models in the market meet these standards.
The EU EN 12184 standard requires that the maximum speed of mobility scooters shall be ≤6km/h (in public place mode) and the Angle of tilt stability shall be ≥6° before entering rail transit. The information collected from BVG Company in Berlin, Germany, shows that the chance of derailing of mobility scooters with gyroscope balancing systems (e.g., TGA Breeze S5) on platforms with an inclination of 10° has decreased from 0.3% of the standard model to 0.01%. Yet, the UK’s Network Rail demands that mobility scooter batteries need to be non-removable (tamper-proof design), thereby leading to the abandonment of lead-acid battery models (having only a compliance rate of 21% in 2023).
Technical specifications have a direct impact on the accessibility feasibility. The new transport regulations of Transport for London (TfL) in 2024 require that the mobility scooter turning radius should be ≤0.8 meters (the standard subway door width is 1.1 meters), and they should be equipped with reflective strips (≥50 meters visibility). Sampling tests show that the pass rate of Pride Mobility Go-Go Elite Traveller (with turning radius 0.7 meters) through the platform passageways is up to 98%, as opposed to just 72% for standard wheelchairs. But the battery type has become a significant limitation – lithium-ion batteries need to go through the UN38.3 certification (thermal runaway temperature ≥130℃), and that incurs a 23% higher price (consider Drive Medical Scout, for instance, the retail price has risen from $1,599 to $1,968).
In practical application, there needs to be a balance between partitioning of space and security threats. Statistics from Singapore’s SMRT have indicated that every mobility scooters occupies an average of 2.5 passenger standing spaces (using 0.4m² per passenger), and the carriage capacity drops by 12% during peak hours. To this purpose, Hong Kong MTR has implemented a staggered subsidy scheme: off-peak (10:00-16:30) hour commuter vehicle users enjoy a 50% discount on fares. The diversion effect reduced the daily average of conflict incidents by 64%. The Sydney Railway Company enforced the use of restraint systems (with the tensile strength of straps ≥2,000N) on mobility scooters, and in doing so, prevented 87 slippage accidents in 2023.
User compliance costs must be taken into account. TransLink in Vancouver, Canada, also must purchase third-party liability insurance for 3 million Canadian dollars (with an annual fee of approximately 450 Canadian dollars) and is tested every two years by ANSI/RESNA (for a one-time fee of 150 Canadian dollars). The BART system in San Francisco, USA, offers free access certification services. Pass rate has improved from 58% for enterprise self-inspection to 89% for formal inspection. In 2023, the European Union launched the “MoveFree” scheme, subsidizing the users to retrofit their mobility scooters (e.g., install width sensors), at a maximum reimbursement rate of 60% (up to 800 euros).
Emergency cases expose policy loopholes. In 2022, a short circuit in the batteries of the passenger scooters resulted in a fire in the RATP Paris metro, and French law since then has mandated that mobility scooters be equipped with thermal fuses (response temperature ≥80℃) and smoke sensors (sensitivity 0.1dB/m). The 2024 random inspection identified that the accident rate for compliant models dropped from an average of 0.17 times per thousand cars a year to 0.03 times but increased the battery cost by 19%. The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation mandates submission of a battery safety certificate before getting to ride a mobility vehicle (with an examination cost of 12,000 yen per use), bringing down usage rate by 28% among elderly users.
Anticipating such hardships, creative solutions are breaking through obstacles. The Dutch company GVB in Amsterdam is testing an “intelligent navigation mobility vehicle” that interacts with traffic lights through a V2X communication system (≤50ms latency) to reserve seats inside the vehicle beforehand (success rate of 98%). The University College London CompactRide V2 fold-up mobility scooters measure only 0.18m³ in capacity (0.6×0.8×0.9m unfolded) and qualified to enter 96% of the subway systems across Europe in 2024. The cost of a day’s use has been reduced to 0.5 euros (1.2 euros for the base model).