New York City Puts up Posters Banning Hoverboards in Subway Stations

In this Oct. 21, 2015 file photo, a young man rides a hoverboard down a Manhattan street toward the Empire State Building in New York. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

“The safety of our customers and employees is always our top concern,” said MTA Chief Safety Officer David Mayer in a statement. “For obvious reasons, it is not safe to use hoverboards, skateboards or other personal wheeled vehicles on station platforms. We’re equally concerned about the safety risk of bringing devices that pose fire hazards into the confined spaces inside trains and buses.”

Tim Haden, founder of Hoodriderz, rides a Soundboard X1 Hoverboard next to the New York Stock Exchange building in Manhattan on Dec. 18, 2015. Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times

It’s unclear what type of punishment people face for disobeying the ban.

There’s also a general ban of the devices in the city, and disobeying that ban can earn a rider a fine of up to $200.

However, enforcing the ban is not a major concern for police, and actual fines have been rare.

The subway and rail ban comes as Amazon removed all hoverboards from its website on Monday, several days after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the self-balancing scooters are unsafe.