What time do scooters stop in Durham?

No City hours could be confirmed for 2026, and the map showed scooters through the night of 26 to 27 October. On Duke’s campus scooters may only be ridden from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Duke says.

Can you ride an e-scooter on the sidewalk in Durham?

Not under the City’s rules as last reported: INDY Week wrote in 2018 that a City ordinance barred bicycles and vehicles from sidewalks, so riders must use the street, and ABC11 reported the same in June 2019. Duke bans scooters from its campus sidewalks too.

How much does a Spin scooter cost in Durham?

Duke Today gave $1 to start and 46 cents a minute in August 2024. No newer published price could be checked, for Spin or Lime, so check the rate in the app before you unlock.

Can you ride a scooter at Duke?

Yes, where bicycles may go, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., but not in the dismount zones such as Abele Quadrangle or Duke Gardens. Start and end each ride next to a bike rack. Duke asks riders to be 16 or older with a driver’s licence; Spin rents from 18.

Are there Lime scooters in Durham?

Yes: the City’s dashboard lists Lime and Spin as its active operators in October 2026. On the morning of 27 October the map showed more Lime than Spin scooters in Durham, but far fewer of Lime’s on the Duke and NC Central campuses.

Can you ride a scooter at Durham Station or on a GoDurham bus?

No. GoDurham’s conduct policy lists using scooters on its buses or at Durham Station as inappropriate conduct, and rented scooters and bikes must be used outside the station. On Duke Transit, a folding scooter that isn’t gasoline-powered may be stowed under the seat.

E-scooters in Durham, North Carolina: Lime and Spin, Duke’s campus rules, and where to ride and park

E-scooters in Durham come from Lime and Spin, the two operators the City’s micromobility dashboard lists as active in October 2026. In 2018 and 2019, as INDY Week and ABC11 reported, the City’s rules kept scooters off sidewalks and greenway trails. Duke University allows scooters on its campus only from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and wants every ride to start and end next to a bike rack; no citywide hours could be confirmed. Check the price in the app before you unlock.

Updated 27 October 20269 min read

Which e-scooters can you rent in Durham?

For electric scooter rental in Durham, the public dashboard of the City’s Transportation Department, run by Ride Report, lists two active operators in October 2026: Lime and Spin. CBS 17 reported on 11 December 2024 that Lime scooters were now available in Durham, and Spin’s open data names Bird Rides, Inc. as the operator of its Durham system. Under the City’s 2018 ordinance, companies needed a City permit, ABC11 reported; which permits run in 2026 couldn’t be checked.

At 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Durham map showed 230 Lime and 157 Spin scooters as they stood at that moment; over the day before, it showed between 209 and 237 Lime and between 150 and 159 Spin. Each figure is a snapshot, not a fleet. At 8:11 a.m. every one of Spin’s 156 available scooters stood inside the city of Durham, by the Census Bureau’s boundaries.

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

E-bikes and seated scooters aren’t on the map. ScootRadar shows standing e-scooters only. Spin’s open data listed 30 available e-bikes at 8:11 a.m. on 27 October, and the City’s dashboard counted 2,600 e-bike trips and 7,500 seated-scooter trips from July to September 2026, beside 41,400 scooter trips. It doesn’t say which company runs the seated scooters.

How much does a Lime or Spin scooter cost in Durham?

No Durham price could be checked on an open page in October 2026, and Spin’s open data held none on 27 October. What can be checked is Duke’s figure from 2024: when Spin added e-scooters and e-bikes on campus with Duke Parking and Transportation Services, Duke Today wrote on 30 August 2024, “Rentals cost $1 to start and 46 cents per minute.” Prices change, so check the rate in the Lime or Spin app before you unlock.

Spin Access offers cheaper rides to people with limited incomes, Spin says, and riders without a smartphone who hold an Access code can unlock a scooter by text message.

Durham scooter rules: sidewalks, greenways, age and hours

NCDOT’s report Micromobility in North Carolina (2024, published in April 2025) says e-scooters “are not currently defined by the North Carolina general statutes” and that municipalities “bear the brunt of overseeing the development of micromobility regulations”. The City’s rules below are as INDY Week and ABC11 reported the Shared Active Transportation ordinance the City Council passed unanimously on 15 October 2018, and as ABC11 reported the City’s rules when scooters arrived in June 2019; no newer City text could be checked.

E-scooter rules in Durham, and who sets them (as published by 27 October 2026)
Rule	What applies	Set by
Where to ride	In the street, not on sidewalks	City rules, as INDY Week and ABC11 reported them in October 2018, and ABC11 again in June 2019
Greenway trails	“Scooters are prohibited on greenway trails”	City ordinance, October 2018, in ABC11’s summary
Age	16 or older under the City’s rules, as reported in 2018 and 2019; 18 to ride a Spin; check Lime’s terms in its app	City, as reported; Spin’s terms
Helmet	Required under the 2018 ordinance, as reported; in June 2019 riders were “encouraged” to wear one	City, as INDY Week and ABC11 reported it
Parking	Upright, out of the way of pedestrians and moving vehicles	City, June 2019, as ABC11 reported it
Hours	No City hours confirmed for 2026; on Duke’s campus, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.	Duke Parking & Transportation, for its campus
Duke’s campus	16 or older with a valid driver’s licence, only where bicycles may go, never on sidewalks	Duke Parking & Transportation

On Duke’s campus, ride only from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Duke Parking & Transportation says “Scooters may only be operated between 6am-11pm.” That is Duke’s rule. Across Durham the map showed scooters through the night of 26 to 27 October; in June 2019 ABC11 reported they would “generally be available from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily”, but no City hours could be confirmed for 2026.

Parking a scooter in Durham, and the zones on the map

Park upright and out of the way, the City said in 2019, as ABC11 reported; on Duke’s campus and at Duke Gardens, next to a bike rack. Spin published three no-ride and five no-parking zones in its open data on 27 October 2026, which the map draws at street zoom. Matched to NC OneMap’s statewide parcel map:

No riding across the American Tobacco Campus and the land beside it on Willard Street, just south of Durham Station, with two small patches: one in Durham Central Park and one on Duke’s West Campus.
No parking on nearly all of Duke’s East Campus and most of West Campus, on parts of Duke’s golf course and the Washington Duke Inn’s grounds, on a residential block at Oakwood Avenue and North Queen Street, and on a small patch of the 700 block of Ninth Street.

Even so, 23 of Spin’s available scooters stood inside the two Duke zones at 8:11 a.m. on 27 October. Whatever the app accepts, Duke wants every ride to end next to a bike rack. The map doesn’t show Lime’s zones: check its app.

Scooters at Duke and NC Central

Duke treats electric scooters as motor vehicles. Its Parking & Transportation page (updated 13 November 2025) sets these rules for anyone riding a scooter on campus:

Where. On the same side of the road as traffic, only where bicycles may go, never on sidewalks. The East Campus Quadrangle, Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Abele Quadrangle and Bryan Center Plaza, and the Athletic Department campus are dismount zones.
When and who. From 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., at 16 or older with a valid driver’s licence. Spin rents to Duke community members aged 18 or older, Duke Today says.
Parking. Start and end each ride next to a bike rack, upright, without blocking paths, doors, ramps or hydrants. Don’t ride or park in University garages, residence halls or other University buildings, and don’t charge a scooter on campus. Unauthorised scooters are collected: Duke charges a $50 collection fee plus $10 a day in impound (up to $250 a month).
Duke Gardens and Duke Forest. Duke Gardens doesn’t allow scooters on its grounds, open from 8 a.m. to sunset; park at a bike rack, such as those at the main entrance. Duke Forest bars motorised vehicles, e-bikes included, except for pre-approved uses, and is closed after sunset.

At 8:11 a.m. on 27 October, 23 of Spin’s 156 available scooters stood on Duke’s campus, by the Census Bureau’s college boundaries; around 8 a.m. the map showed no more than five Lime scooters there.

North Carolina Central University. At the same moment 52 of Spin’s scooters, a third of the total, stood on NC Central’s campus, against no more than seven of Lime’s. NCCU’s residential policy POL 40.13.5, in force since 1 February 2026, bars e-scooters and e-bikes from every residence hall and university apartment, rooms, hallways and storage rooms included.

The American Tobacco Trail and the greenways

The American Tobacco Trail starts downtown at the corner of Morehead and Blackwell Streets. The City’s Parks & Recreation department describes its Durham section as 11.0 miles of paved, 10-foot-wide trail to the Chatham County line, used by walkers, joggers, cyclists and roller bladers, who must keep below 10 mph. Its page names no scooters, but ABC11 reported in 2018 that the City’s new ordinance barred scooters from greenway trails.

GoDurham, GoTriangle and RDU airport

GoDurham buses and Durham Station. GoDurham’s conduct policy lists “use of scooters on buses and/or at Durham Station” as inappropriate conduct: “Scooters may not be used inside the building or on the platforms. Rented scooters/bicycles must be used outside of the station.” Its buses are fare-free through June 2027, under the City’s 2026–2027 budget.
Duke Transit. A scooter that folds to fit under the seat and isn’t gasoline-powered may be carried onto a Duke Transit bus, van or ADA vehicle and stowed there, Duke says.
Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) lies outside the city, in unincorporated Wake County, by the Census Bureau’s boundaries; at 8:11 a.m. the nearest available Spin scooter stood about 9 miles away. GoTriangle’s Route 700 runs from Durham Station to the Regional Transit Center every 30 minutes; there, change to the RDU Shuttle (Monday to Saturday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) or to Route 100 after 6 p.m. and all day on Sunday.

Raleigh, Durham’s neighbour, has rules of its own: see e-scooters in Raleigh and the Raleigh map.

Did you know?

A million trips. The City’s dashboard counts 1,015,600 trips on shared scooters and bikes from 3 June 2019 to 30 September 2026.
Four companies at the start. In June 2019 the City approved permits for 800 scooters, 200 each from Bird, Gotcha, Lime and Spin, ABC11 reported.
Campus rides. NCDOT’s 2024 report, citing the City’s dashboard, put Durham’s e-scooter trips from June 2019 to March 2023 at 562,000, mostly downtown and on the Duke and NC Central campuses.

Questions

What time do scooters stop in Durham?: No City hours could be confirmed for 2026, and the map showed scooters through the night of 26 to 27 October. On Duke’s campus scooters may only be ridden from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Duke says.
Can you ride an e-scooter on the sidewalk in Durham?: Not under the City’s rules as last reported: INDY Week wrote in 2018 that a City ordinance barred bicycles and vehicles from sidewalks, so riders must use the street, and ABC11 reported the same in June 2019. Duke bans scooters from its campus sidewalks too.
How much does a Spin scooter cost in Durham?: Duke Today gave $1 to start and 46 cents a minute in August 2024. No newer published price could be checked, for Spin or Lime, so check the rate in the app before you unlock.
Can you ride a scooter at Duke?: Yes, where bicycles may go, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., but not in the dismount zones such as Abele Quadrangle or Duke Gardens. Start and end each ride next to a bike rack. Duke asks riders to be 16 or older with a driver’s licence; Spin rents from 18.
Are there Lime scooters in Durham?: Yes: the City’s dashboard lists Lime and Spin as its active operators in October 2026. On the morning of 27 October the map showed more Lime than Spin scooters in Durham, but far fewer of Lime’s on the Duke and NC Central campuses.
Can you ride a scooter at Durham Station or on a GoDurham bus?: No. GoDurham’s conduct policy lists using scooters on its buses or at Durham Station as inappropriate conduct, and rented scooters and bikes must be used outside the station. On Duke Transit, a folding scooter that isn’t gasoline-powered may be stowed under the seat.