E-scooters in Arlington, Virginia: Lime, Bird and GCOO, the rules, and where you can ride

Which e-scooters can you rent in Arlington, VA?

Arlington is a county, not a city, and its Board adopted its shared scooter and e-bike rules on 16 November 2019. In September 2025 the staff of neighbouring Falls Church counted three permitted operators in the County, Lime, Bird and Spin, with up to 2,000 e-scooters and 1,000 e-bikes allowed and 1,600 scooters out. Operators paid $1,000 to apply for each kind of device, plus $80 a device. ARLnow still counted three operators in March 2026, without naming them.

Spin, which Bird bought in 2023, has no scooters on our map: its open data listed none in Arlington in late October 2026. GCOO, a South Korean brand with a permit next door in Alexandria until 31 March 2027, publishes a service area covering most of Arlington, and the map has shown its scooters there since 24 October 2026. Falls Church’s 2025 summary listed GCOO in Alexandria only, and we couldn’t read the County’s website to check this year’s permit holders. Veo and LINK left early in 2024, ARLnow reported.

At 4:56 a.m. on Thursday 29 October 2026 the Arlington map showed about 1,010 scooters: some 520 Lime and 230 Bird at that moment, and 260 GCOO as last counted. That is what the map holds, not the fleets. The total is what the three companies list for Arlington, less any in Alexandria, not a count within the County’s boundary: a few may stand just over the line in Falls Church or Fairfax County.

For Bird and GCOO the map shows each scooter’s position, charge and range, and Bird’s zones; for Lime, position and range. Scooters on a ride aren’t shown, nor are e-bikes or Capital Bikeshare. First ride? See how to rent an e-scooter.

How much does a scooter cost in Arlington?

No open official page gave Lime’s, Bird’s or GCOO’s Arlington prices in October 2026: each app shows its rate before you unlock. The County’s 2019 rules required permit holders to offer discounts to lower-income riders. GCOO Access gives approved riders a 50% coupon for a year, which doesn’t cover the unlock fee, and ten $2 coupons; GCOO says conditions vary by city.

Scooter rules in Arlington and Virginia

Two levels apply. The Code of Virginia defines an e-scooter as under 100 pounds and no faster than 20 mph on its motor, allows it on sidewalks unless a local ordinance says no, and lets counties license rental companies. Arlington’s ordinance took effect on 31 December 2019. We couldn’t read the County’s website, so its rules below are as the County announced them in November 2019 and February 2020, reported by the Arlington Connection and ARLnow, and as Falls Church’s staff summed them up in September 2025.

Check the sidewalk before you ride on it. In February 2020 the County named nine stretches of sidewalk off-limits, ARLnow reported: North Quincy Street and westbound Fairfax Drive in Ballston, North Veitch Street in Court House, two stretches of South Eads Street in Crystal City, North Pershing Drive in Lyon Park, Army Navy Drive and South Hayes Street in Pentagon City, and westbound Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn. It said it would look at more, so follow the signs.

Where to park a scooter in Arlington

The County announced these parking rules in 2019; Falls Church’s 2025 summary lists the same as common across the region.

• Corrals first. In August 2022 the County began installing 100 on-street corrals of six spaces, ringed by flex posts, and planned 100 a year for three more years, ARLnow reported; most are on the Rosslyn–Ballston and Route 1 corridors.
• On the sidewalk, park in a rack, against the curb, by a street sign or light post, or at the back edge, leaving the walkway clear. In the street, only against the curb or in a corral.
• Never block curb ramps, crosswalks, bus stops or fire access, and never park on private property without the owner’s consent.
• Who pays. Under the 2019 rules a company has two hours to fix a reported scooter or faces a $50 civil penalty; Virginia law can fine you up to $50 for parking in people’s way.
• Zones on the map. At street zoom the map draws Bird’s no-parking zones: Arlington National Cemetery and Fort Myer, the Pentagon and its Metro station, Gravelly Point, the Marine Corps War Memorial and dozens of small patches. Lime and GCOO show theirs in their apps.

Can you ride a scooter on the Mount Vernon, Custis and W&OD trails?

• Mount Vernon Trail: no. It is part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, whose National Park Service rules (approved on 4 December 2025) ban motorized scooters on the trail and all other parkway land, Gravelly Point, Arlington Memorial Bridge and the Marine Corps War Memorial included, except for people with disabilities. The trail also closes from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., except to commuters on foot or by bike.
• Custis Trail and other paved trails in the County: yes, unless signs say otherwise; the County set 15 mph there in 2019.
• W&OD Trail: yes. NOVA Parks says Virginia law allows e-scooters wherever bicycles may go, capped at 20 mph, and asks riders to yield to people walking and on horseback. It can’t regulate them itself: report reckless riding to the police.

Riding into Washington, DC, Alexandria or Falls Church

Bird marks the whole District, Key Bridge included, as a no-ride zone, GCOO has no area in Washington, and Arlington Memorial Bridge is parkway land where scooters are banned. Check Lime’s app before you set off, and end your ride in Virginia. For DC, see e-scooters in Washington, DC.

Alexandria permits Lime (600 scooters) and GCOO (400) until 31 March 2027, the City says. No sidewalk is open to scooters there, and they slow to 6 mph on the Old Town waterfront, King Street’s pedestrian blocks and in Founders Park; see the Alexandria map. Bird has no Alexandria area.

Falls Church approved a one-year pilot of up to 100 e-scooters and e-bikes in March 2026, but whether scooters could cross its city line was still to be settled, ARLnow reported. Further west, see e-scooters in Fairfax.

Metro, ART buses, the Pentagon, the cemetery and Reagan National

• Metro. WMATA takes bikes and electric scooters free if under 80 inches long, 48 high and 22 wide, by elevator. It says nothing about shared ones, which bill until you end the ride: end it at the station.
• ART buses. Arlington Transit carries bikes on a front rack and says nothing about e-scooters.
• The Pentagon. “The Pentagon Reservation is not an authorized location” to leave rental scooters or bikes, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency told Defense One in 2018, warning it would impound them. End your ride in Pentagon City.
• Arlington National Cemetery. Federal rules (32 CFR § 553.33(c)(8), in the edition of 1 July 2025) ban riding a bicycle “or similar conveyance” there, except with a pass to visit a gravesite: end your ride outside and walk in.
• Reagan National (DCA). The airport’s 30 bike and scooter racks between Terminals 1 and 2 take no ride-share equipment, and riding on its sidewalks and crossings is banned. Take Metro, or a Capital Bikeshare bike to its dock in Garage 2.

Did you know?

• Seven at the Pentagon. On the morning of 12 September 2018, after the 9/11 remembrance, Pentagon police found seven Bird scooters left around the Reservation; Bird collected them that day, and the impound warning followed (Defense One).
• Short-lived seats. Superpedestrian brought 333 stand-up and 50 seated LINK scooters to Arlington in February 2022, its second US market after Baltimore; it shut down its US operations on 31 December 2023.
• Paid for by the scooters. Each corral costs about $1,000 and four months to site and install, paid from the $80 a year companies pay for each device, ARLnow reported in 2022.