E-scooters in Culver City, California: Bird and Lime, the City’s rules, and where to ride and park

Which e-scooters can you rent in Culver City?

Electric scooter rental in Culver City runs under one agreement: the City’s Dockless Shared Micromobility Pilot Program is with Bird, from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, approved unanimously by the City Council on 26 May 2026. It isn’t exclusive, but on 30 June 2026 the Council’s Mobility Subcommittee heard that Bird is the sole provider. City staff plan a competitive procurement for operators from July 2027.

Lime shows on the map too: Lime’s app draws its Los Angeles area over all of Culver City (as of 24 October 2026). The City’s first pilot, from July 2018 to March 2020, had interim agreements with Bird and Lime, a City staff report of May 2026 says; we found no City agreement with Lime since.

At 10:41 a.m. on Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Culver City map showed 264 scooters: 242 Bird as they stood at that moment, and 22 Lime as last counted. That is a snapshot, not the fleets. At 10:44 a.m. 243 of Bird’s available scooters stood inside the city, by the Census Bureau’s boundaries, 28 of them within a quarter mile (400 m) of City Hall. The agreement has Bird deploy at least 50 vehicles a day and, at first, no more than 250; the City Manager may change that.

For Bird the map shows each scooter’s position, charge and range, and Bird’s zones (see below); for Lime, position and charge. Scooters on a ride aren’t shown. First ride? See how to rent an e-scooter.

Bikes aren’t on the map. ScootRadar shows standing e-scooters only. Bird’s Culver City data list an e-bike model, though none showed on 27 October. LA Metro’s Metro Bike Share had no station inside the city that day; the nearest stands just over the line in Los Angeles.

How much does a Bird scooter cost in Culver City?

Bird’s open data held no Culver City price on 27 October 2026, and we found none published for Lime. The City’s agreement makes Bird show its rates before each ride, have them approved by the City and give 14 days’ notice of any change, and it requires low-income rates. Bird’s US rental agreement (updated 30 August 2024) says a ride may include a start fee, a charge by time or distance, and a minimum fee. Check the app before you unlock.

Culver City scooter rules, and who sets them

California’s Vehicle Code (CVC) sets the basics, as UCLA’s Transportation department summarises them (updated September 2026); Culver City adds its own through its agreement with Bird, in the Council’s records (we couldn’t read the City’s website).

As the Mobility Subcommittee discussed in June 2026, you can report a badly parked scooter by calling 311, to be routed to Bird, or by emailing scootershare@culvercity.org with the location and a photo. From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Bird must deal with a report within an hour, and the City may impound a scooter left unmoved for more than 48 hours.

Parking a scooter in Culver City: the agreement and the zones on the map

The agreement sets where Bird’s scooters may stand, and so where you end your ride:

• In the furniture zone, the strip between the curb and the walkway: upright, beside a bike rack or in a drop zone shown in the app. Not on blocks where that strip is narrower than 3 feet.
• Out of the way: never at a bus stop (except at its bike rack), a loading zone, disabled parking, a crosswalk, a curb ramp, an entryway, a driveway or a parklet, nor within 15 feet of a corner’s pedestrian ramp (25 feet where there is only one).
• Off the street only with permission: parks, plazas, parking lots, transit stations and private property only where the owner has agreed and a sign or the app says so.

Bird’s open data listed 13 small no-parking zones inside Culver City on 27 October 2026, and the map draws them at street zoom. On Los Angeles County’s parcel map they cover Veterans Memorial Park, government land along Culver Boulevard by Elenda Street and just east of City Hall, and a handful of blocks of homes, shops and offices. You may ride through them, but not start or end a ride there.

The same data mark a no-ride area of about 15 square miles (40 km²), mostly in Los Angeles and Marina del Rey, which takes in Culver City’s western tip along Washington Boulevard; the map draws it too. Yet at 10:44 a.m. 16 available Birds stood in that tip and some 560 in the Los Angeles part. Follow the Bird app there.

Scooters on the Ballona Creek Bike Path, at the Overlook and in parks

• Ballona Creek Bike Path. Los Angeles County’s trails site describes the 6.7-mile path as connecting the Pacific Ocean at Marina del Rey with Culver City, says in a reply to a rider that County Public Works and the City of Los Angeles run it, and says nothing of scooters. State law allows them on a bike path “unless prohibited”, the California Highway Patrol says, and the City’s agreement tells riders to yield to bicycles there. Bird’s data set no limits on its 2.5 miles in Culver City, but about 1.4 miles at its Marina del Rey end lie in the no-ride area above. Don’t leave a scooter on it: at the Council’s 26 May 2026 meeting a cyclist raised “Bird scooters discarded on the Bike Path”, the minutes record.
• Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. California State Parks gives its entrance as 6300 Hetzler Road, off Jefferson Boulevard, and the park’s hours as 8 a.m. to sunset daily. Its page states no scooter rule: unless the app shows a parking spot there, end your ride outside.
• City parks. Veterans Memorial Park is a no-parking zone in Bird’s data; Culver City Park has none. We couldn’t read the City’s park rules: follow the signs.

Metro, the studio lots, Westfield and West LA College

• Metro E Line. Metro’s Customer Code of Conduct (amended June 2023) says wheeled devices, kick scooters included, “may not be ridden in Metro facilities or vehicles”. End your ride on the street outside Culver City station: at 10:44 a.m. 27 available Birds stood within a quarter mile of it, 11 of them on the Culver City side. We couldn’t read Culver CityBus’s rules.
• The studio lots. Sony Pictures Studios, at 10202 West Washington Boulevard, and The Culver Studios, at 9336, lie inside the city but are private. We found no studio rule on scooters; the agreement keeps Bird’s scooters off private land unless the owner agrees, so end your ride outside the gate.
• Westfield Culver City, at 6000 Sepulveda Boulevard, is inside the city, by the County’s parcel map and the Census Bureau’s outline, and private too: end your ride on the street outside.
• West Los Angeles College, at 9000 Overland Avenue, is outside the city: the County’s parcel map puts its campus in unincorporated Ladera Heights, where the City’s agreement doesn’t apply. We couldn’t read the college’s own rules.

Crossing into Los Angeles and Santa Monica

By the Census Bureau’s boundaries, Los Angeles lies across about four-fifths of Culver City’s line, and unincorporated Ladera Heights across the rest. Bird’s data give its Culver City, Los Angeles and Santa Monica scooters one riding area of about 185 square miles (480 km²) over west Los Angeles, so a ride may end across the line, where LA’s rules apply: see e-scooters in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles map. Santa Monica has its own rules: see e-scooters in Santa Monica.

Did you know?

• Wheels in between. From August 2020 Wheels ran the second phase of the City’s pilot on its own; Bird rejoined in November 2021 and has run there since, the May 2026 staff report says.
• Culver City decals. The agreement has Bird mark its drop zones with Culver City-branded floor decals and reward riders who use them with ride credit or a similar incentive.
• Scooters in trees. In June 2026 the Mobility Subcommittee heard public comment on Birds “left in trees”, and on Birds blocking “the right of way on the Bike Path for several days at a time”.