The NTA said the ban is due to a risk of fire posed by batteries inside some poor quality devices.
The guidance is prompted by safety concerns in relation to lithium-ion batteries which are commonplace in such devices.
“These batteries are known to develop internal faults, leading to overheating and combustion. This has resulted in recent fires and thick black smoke on board public transport in Madrid and Barcelona,” the NTA said.
The ban on buses, trains and Luas trams includes e-scooters that can be folded or carried, with the restriction due to come into effect from early October.
It will apply to e-scooters, but not e-bikes or mobility scooters.
The NTA said due to the newness of e-scooters, the quality control of their construction is not as mature or well developed as e-bikes and mobility scooters, which have been regulated for longer.
“The tested batteries of e-bikes and mobility scooters do not pose the same level of risk,” the NTA said.
E-scooters are a relatively new product and were unregulated in Ireland until earlier this year.
In May, the use of electric scooters by children under the age of 16 in a public place was prohibited, under regulations signed by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan.
A 20kph speed limit and a prohibition of seats on e-scooters was also brought in.
The ban on public transport operators is subject to periodic review by the NTA and the transport operators.
Similar restrictions are already in place in Berlin, Barcelona and the UK.
In Barcelona two years ago, an e-scooter battery exploded and caught fire on board a train, injuring three people and inciting a ban on bringing e-scooters onto public transport.
A major explosion took place in a Madrid subway in October 2022 due to a faulty e-scooter battery, prompting the city to ban them on their public transport system.
Transport for London banned all private e-scooters and e-unicycles in public transport, including buses and the subway system, until further research could assess the risk of toxic smoke emitting from defective batteries.
If the lithium-ion batteries on e-scooters are damaged, charged incorrectly, or left unattended, they can overheat, releasing flammable gases and ignite in a process called ‘thermal runaway’.
The batteries are vulnerable to variations in temperature and tend to degrade when exposed to very hot or cold environments, leading the lithium battery to fail and become volatile.
Batteries can also be damaged by using the wrong charger, overcharging or undercharging.
Some e-scooter users may buy cheap or counterfeit batteries online, which could lead to the charger becoming damaged more easily.
Th new guidance applies to all services operated under a contract with the NTA.
This includes Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Go-Ahead Ireland, Iarnród Éireann and Luas.
Of the 184 road deaths in 2023, three of those were e-scooter users, an increase of one fatality for the mode of transport on the previous year.
There were 222 accidents on e-scooters recorded by Gardaí last year, with 54 resulting in serious or fatal injuries.
Following news of the ban, Rail Users Ireland, which is Ireland’s national rail users organisation established to improved services and conditions for rail passengers, said it welcomes the decision.
“We engaged with the Commission for Railway Regulation in 2022 to seek a ban owing to fire risks as well as trip hazard,” it said.
The Dublin Commuters Coalition described e-scooters as a “very important solution to the last mile problem”.
“Banning them from public transport is a step backwards,” the community advocacy group for sustainable mobility in Greater Dublin said.
