E-scooters in Berkeley, California: Lime, Veo, the state rules and where to park

Which e-scooter apps work in Berkeley?

At 8:49 pm Pacific Time on Monday 2 November 2026, the map of Berkeley showed about 240 Veo scooters free to rent at that moment and about 140 Lime scooters as last counted.

Shared scooters may run in Berkeley only under a permit from the City’s Public Works Department. Ordinance No. 7,786-N.S., adopted by the City Council on 12 October 2021, added Chapter 14.63 to the Berkeley Municipal Code, and the department’s Terms and Conditions of March 2026 are issued under it (BMC 14.63.050). These permit terms bind the companies, and each must serve all of Berkeley unless the City approves a smaller area in writing (Terms IV(N)(3)).

Under the City’s permit terms of March 2026, each company must offer:

• A way to pay without a credit card (IV(P)(1)).
• A low-income plan for people on SNAP or CARE, worth the same as $5 for a year of unlimited 30-minute rides, or another plan with a significant discount (IV(P)(2)).
• Adaptive devices for riders with disabilities: seated, with three wheels or self-balancing, and with room for a cane (IV(O)).

The same terms have each company confirm that you hold a valid license or permit, by scanning your driver’s license in the app for instance, and let you rent only one scooter at a time (IV(J)(18), IV(J)(19)). You must also complete the company’s safety training before your first ride (IV(M)(2)(b)). New to shared scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.

E-scooter rules in Berkeley and California in 2026

California’s Vehicle Code sets the rules for every motorized scooter, and lets a city regulate where scooters are ridden and parked by ordinance, as long as it doesn’t conflict with the Code (§ 21225). On a road, the rules for drivers apply to you, and so do their rights (§ 21221).

Don’t carry anything that keeps both hands off the handlebars, and never hook yourself or the scooter on to another vehicle on the road (§ 21235(f), (j)).

Where can you ride an e-scooter in Berkeley?

• Bike lanes. Where a Class II bike lane runs along the road, you must ride in it. You may leave it to pass, to avoid debris or other hazards, to turn left as below, or where a right turn is allowed, but only when it’s safe and after signalling if anyone may be affected (§ 21229).
• Streets with a speed limit of 25 mph or less. If the traffic is going faster than you, ride as far right as is practicable, moving out only to pass, or to get round hazards or a lane too narrow to share safely with another vehicle. On a one-way street with two or more marked lanes, you may ride on the left side instead (§ 21228).
• Bike paths and trails, unless the authority or agency in charge of one bans scooters there by ordinance (§ 21230).

Left turns on foot. To turn left, you stop and get off as near the right curb as you can, then cross the road on foot as a pedestrian (§§ 21228(b), 21229(a)(2)). If you are riding on the left of a one-way street, right turns work the same way from the left curb (§ 21228(d)).

Campus, BART and no-parking zones

On private land, or land belonging to another agency such as the University of California, Berkeley, or BART, a company may run its scooters only once it has an agreement with the owner (Terms IV(J)(10)). Where the City bans scooter parking, the companies must set up a “No Parking” zone within 72 hours of being told (IV(L)(9)), so look at the app’s map before you park.

Parking a shared scooter in Berkeley

Berkeley’s ordinance, as amended in October 2021, says no one may leave a motorized scooter against a window or a parking meter, on the main walking part of a sidewalk, or anywhere it would endanger people walking, traffic or property (BMC 14.68.180). Under state law, a scooter left on a sidewalk, lying down or standing, must leave people enough room to walk past (§ 21235(i)). The City’s permit terms of March 2026 go further, and make the company responsible for each ride ending within them (Terms IV(K)(13)):

• Lock it to a bike rack, an on-street bike corral, or another spot marked for bike or scooter parking (IV(L)(1)).
• Or use a marked scooter zone. The companies set up shared scooter parking zones with the City’s approval, and you needn’t lock up in one (IV(L)(2), IV(L)(11)). The ordinance has each company map its zones in its app and on its website (BMC 14.63.040).
• At a rack, park alongside an inverted-U or circle rack, or at right angles to a wave rack, with no more than two scooters to one inverted-U or circle rack, both on the same side (IV(L)(10)(c), (d)).
• Never lock it to a tree, a fire hydrant, a bus stop or disabled parking sign, a meter post, a fence or gate, a post with push buttons, or private property (IV(L)(10)(b)).
• Not in the way. In the strip by the curb, keep clear of disabled parking and other accessible routes, curb ramps, red curbs, loading zones, bus stops and shelters (unless at a bike rack there), benches, entrances and driveways (IV(L)(5)).
• Upright, with a photo. The scooter must stand upright, and the app must have you photograph it, parked, at the end of each ride (IV(L)(4), IV(M)(4)).

A scooter locked the wrong way may be impounded (IV(L)(10)(e)). Outside a marked zone, a scooter left standing for 72 hours, or 120 hours in Districts 1, 2 and 5, may be taken away and stored by the City at the company’s expense, and the company is fined $25 for each further day (IV(L)(6); Attachment B).

A scooter in the way: reporting it

Each shared scooter must show an ID number and a customer service phone number and email address, answered around the clock (Terms IV(J)(11)(a)). You should get a ticket number, and a reply once the problem is dealt with (IV(J)(11)(d), (e)). Give the address, the scooter’s ID and a photo if you can: a complaint counts toward the company’s on-time record only with at least two of those three (IV(J)(14)).

Under the City’s permit terms of March 2026, while scooters are for rent, the company has three hours to deal with a complaint, and two if the scooter blocks access for disabled people, at a curb ramp, a disabled parking space, a transit stop, an entrance or on the sidewalk (III(B), IV(J)(11)(b), (c)). Complaints made through the City between 10 pm and 6 am must be resolved by 8 am (IV(J)(12)(f)(ii)).

The same terms fine the company, not you, for missing those times: $50 for each ordinary complaint left past three hours, $150 for each access complaint left past two, and $1,000 for a quarter in which fewer than 90% are resolved on time (Attachment B).

Faults and help

• A faulty scooter. Report it in the app or on the number printed on it; it must then come out of service until it’s repaired (Terms IV(K)(4)).
• Help in your language. Each company’s website, call centre and app must be open at any hour, in English, Spanish and simplified Chinese at least (IV(J)(20)).
• Helmets. The notice the City requires on each shared scooter says riders of any age should wear one, and the companies must offer them free or at a discount, at events or through the app (IV(K)(3)(a), IV(S)(3)).

Your own e-scooter in Berkeley

Berkeley’s ordinance defines a motorized scooter as a two-wheeled device with handlebars, powered by a motor, with a floorboard you stand on (BMC 14.68.010(D)), and the permit terms define a scooter much the same way, citing Vehicle Code § 407.5 (III(L)(1)(a)). If yours fits, nothing in the state rules above depends on who owns it: 15 mph, a license or permit, a helmet under 18, the 25 mph roads, lights after dark and the left turn on foot. Berkeley’s sidewalk ban and parking rules bind anyone riding or parking one too (BMC 14.68.120, 14.68.180). Only the governor, the bike-rack rule and the photo come from the companies’ permit terms.

Elsewhere in the Bay Area

The Vehicle Code applies across California, but each city runs its own permits and ordinances, so the rules can change at the city line. Across the Bay, see e-scooters in San Francisco.