E-scooters in Columbus, Ohio: Veo and Spin, what a ride costs, the rules and where you can’t ride

Which scooter apps work in Columbus?

The City’s Department of Public Service runs the programme, and the City Code lets its director set the rules for shared scooters and bikes. In spring 2025 the City signed near-identical contracts with Veo, new to Columbus, and Spin, which it kept on. Each may run up to 2,000 vehicles, at least half of them seated, the City said in February 2026.

• Veo: stand-up and seated scooters, e-bikes and pedal bikes, all in the Veo app. It launched on 14 March 2025.
• Spin, which has joined forces with Bird: Spin’s website and Experience Columbus point you to the Spin app, though Spin’s open data names Bird Rides as the operator and lists the Bird app.
• Lime and Bird ran scooters here until the start of 2025, when the new agreements replaced them, so older guides naming them are out of date.

At 15:25 on 17 October 2026 the Columbus map showed about 880 Veo and 700 Spin scooters: what was on the map at that moment, not the fleets. The map shows stand-up scooters only, so Veo’s seated scooters, which its open data lists as bicycles, aren’t on it; that evening Veo listed more seated scooters than stand-up ones.

Visiting? Get the Veo or Spin app before you set out: both require riders to be 18. The City says Spin also appears in the Lyft app, and Veo in the Transit app. New to this? See how to rent an e-scooter.

How much does a scooter cost in Columbus?

On 17 October 2026 Veo’s open data gave one rate for its stand-up and seated scooters: $1 to unlock and $0.39 a minute, plus tax. Spin’s gives no Columbus prices, so check the Spin app before you unlock.

Columbus scooter rules: age, helmets, speed and sidewalks

Ohio law calls an e-scooter a “low-speed micromobility device” and doesn’t count it as a vehicle. Section 4511.514 of the Revised Code sets the basics and lets cities regulate or ban scooters on their streets, sidewalks and paths. Columbus adds Chapter 2173 of its City Code, and Ohio State has its own rules on campus. Most breaches are minor misdemeanours, and police may impound the scooter for up to 30 days.

Short North, Scioto Mile and Ohio State: where you can’t ride

• The Short North. In September 2021 the City geofenced scooters off High Street between 5th Avenue and Goodale Boulevard, citing crime. In summer 2026 it began trying a looser rule: you may ride on High Street but not on its sidewalks, and officials said in August they would keep adjusting it.
• The Scioto Mile. The City’s zones make it a slow zone by day, a no-ride zone at night and a no-parking zone around the clock. Columbus Recreation and Parks bans scooters in Bicentennial Park and the fountain area. On the evening of 17 October 2026 Spin’s data also marked no-ride blocks around Civic Center Drive and Columbus Commons.
• Ohio State. Keep off sidewalks and the Oval, a walk zone, and park next to a bike rack, never in a car space or on an ADA ramp. On football game days a scooter parking zone at the RPAC tennis courts, south of Ohio Stadium, opens 4 hours before kickoff and closes 1 hour after; you may not ride or park near the stadium gates.
• Parks and trails. Columbus Recreation and Parks has more than 230 miles of regional trails, such as the Olentangy Trail from Worthington to downtown. Its trail rules say “Motorized vehicles are not permitted” without saying whether that covers e-scooters, which Ohio law doesn’t count as vehicles: follow the signs. The City’s 2025 checks list Goodale Park as a no-ride zone, and Spin’s data marked Schiller Park in German Village and Franklin Park as no-parking.
• Easton and events. Spin’s data marked Easton Town Center a no-ride zone. The City sets temporary zones for big events, ten in 2025, such as Comfest at Goodale Park and Red, White & Boom downtown.

Veo publishes no zones in its open data, so check the map in its app before you set off.

Parking a scooter in Columbus

The City Code bans parking on the sidewalk where a scooter gets in people’s way, including on ADA ramps, by building entrances and at transit stops, and anywhere on the street, parking spaces and loading zones included.

• Ride hubs, which replaced the old CoGo bike docks, are approved places to end a trip, the City says.
• Corrals: twenty along High Street in the Short North since early 2026, and others downtown and in Harrison West, East Franklinton, Old Town East and German Village.

City checks in 2025 found about 7% of parked scooters and bikes breaking ADA rules. The companies can penalise riders, and the City gets 75% of those penalties.

COTA buses, CMAX and John Glenn airport (CMH)

COTA doesn’t allow shared scooters on its buses or their bike racks, and bans motorised scooters aboard, so end your ride before you board. A two-hour pass costs $2.00 and a day pass $4.50, in the Transit app or on a Smartcard. CMAX, COTA’s bus rapid transit line, runs 15.6 miles along Cleveland Avenue between downtown and Westerville.

John Glenn International Airport (CMH) is about 10 minutes from downtown, Experience Columbus says, but no shared scooters wait there: at 20:34 on 17 October 2026 neither Veo nor Spin had one within a mile of the terminal. COTA has a ticket machine in arrivals.

Do Columbus scooters run in winter?

Mostly. Veo took all its vehicles off the streets from 27 December 2025 to 16 February 2026, during record-breaking weather, and says its agreement allows seasonal adjustments. Spin cut its fleet in January and February but kept some out. The City said in February 2026 it would work out winter service with both; by mid-October 2026 we found no plan announced for winter 2026–27. If there’s no Veo in midwinter, try Spin or COTA.

Dublin, Upper Arlington and other Ohio cities

On the evening of 17 October 2026 there were no scooters within a mile of central Worthington, Westerville or Upper Arlington, and only a handful in Dublin. Spin’s data let you ride through Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Whitehall but not end a ride there.

Elsewhere in Ohio, at 15:25 that day the Cleveland map showed about 320 Bird and 220 Veo scooters, Toledo about 580 Veo and Akron about 385 Spin.

Did you know?

• Seated scooters are Columbus’s favourite. In 2025 Veo’s seated scooter was the programme’s most-ridden vehicle, with about 319,000 rides, and 67% of Veo trips were on seated vehicles.
• The City charges the companies $90 a year for each stand-up scooter, but $20 for a seated one, plus 5 cents a trip, split 3 cents and 2 cents when a ride crosses onto Ohio State’s campus.
• Spin is here because it sued. It went to federal court in December 2024, saying the City hadn’t followed its own criteria in choosing Veo; its place is part of the settlement.
• Riders took 812,577 trips in 2025, down from 1,002,905 in 2024, when Bird, Lime, Spin and CoGo bikes shared the streets.