E-scooters in Fort Collins, Colorado: Spin, where to ride, CSU’s campus and parking

Which e-scooter apps work in Fort Collins?

At 12:54 am Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday 3 November 2026, the map of Fort Collins showed about 500 Spin scooters free to rent at that moment.

Colorado State University’s transportation office describes Spin’s e-scooters and e-bikes as one share programme, open for trips both on and off campus. You find and unlock a device in Spin’s app, and you pay a fee to unlock it plus a rate for each minute you ride. CSU adds that you can also pay with RamCash, and that Spin Access offers cheaper trips to riders who qualify on income.

New to shared scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.

E-scooter rules in Fort Collins and Colorado in 2026

Colorado law, the City and, on its own campus, CSU each set rules for you. Under state law, anyone riding an e-scooter has, with some exceptions, a driver’s rights and duties, and on the streets of a city or town is subject to its ordinances (C.R.S. § 42-4-1412(1)). The City says where e-scooters may go. CSU’s Transportation Regulations, revised in July 2026, add rules that bind people on its campus only.

Section 42-4-1412 sets a minimum age and a helmet rule for class 3 e-bikes alone, so neither applies to e-scooters. CSU’s police still tell riders to wear a helmet.

Where can you ride an e-scooter in Fort Collins?

The City’s Which Wheels Go Where? page, last updated on 23 September 2026, set out in a table where “current ordinance” allowed each kind of vehicle. For e-scooters it said yes to sidewalks, bike lanes, streets and paved trails, and no to unpaved trails inside City Natural Areas. The table applies only while you are on the scooter and riding it. The page also refers to an existing downtown dismount zone ordinance but doesn’t map the zone, so watch for dismount signs downtown.

• On the street, ride in the right-hand lane when you are going slower than other vehicles. Where a one-way road has at least two marked lanes, you may instead keep near its left-hand edge, as close as you judge safe (§ 42-4-1412(5)).
• Signal before you turn or stop. Give a turn signal for at least the last 100 feet and while you wait to turn, though a hand signal can lapse when you need that hand to control the scooter (§ 42-4-1412(9)).
• On a sidewalk, path or crosswalk, riding or walking the scooter, you have a pedestrian’s rights and duties. When riding, let people on foot go first, warn them with a sound before you pass, and cross in a way that keeps them safe (§ 42-4-1412(10)).
• On a trail, follow the signs: where one bars scooters from a path, you may not ride there, whatever the City’s table says (§ 42-4-1412(10)).

Riding on the CSU campus

CSU’s Transportation Regulations, revised in July 2026, bind everyone on its campus at all times, on top of state law, the City of Fort Collins Traffic Code and the City’s ordinances; off campus they don’t apply. CSU’s transportation office applies its rules to Spin’s scooters as well as your own:

• Where to ride. On roads, in bike lanes and on maintained paths, unless signs say otherwise. Not on sidewalks beside streets; on other sidewalks, people on foot go first, and you get off where it is too crowded to ride.
• Dismount zones. CSU marks them with “Dismount” signs or graphics on the ground, and they are for walking only: CSU defines dismounting as “walking with both feet on the ground, beside the bicycle or scooter”. CSU’s police give the dismount hours as 7:30 am to 5 pm on weekdays unless a sign shows other times.
• Speed. Keep to the posted limit. Where no limit is posted, ride no faster than 20 mph on campus streets or 10 mph in its parking lots; on paths shared with people walking, go slower still. CSU’s transportation office adds an 8 mph limit in slow zones.
• At night, from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, an e-scooter needs a light seen 500 feet ahead and a reflector seen 600 feet behind.
• Registration. A scooter you own must be registered with CSU’s police for $10 if you ride or park it on campus; visitors are exempt.

Fines. Students, faculty and staff who break these rules can get a CSU violation notice: $35 for a safety violation, such as riding in a dismount zone, failing to give way, going 5 to 9 mph over the limit or riding without lights, and $50 for 10 to 19 mph over. The fine may be doubled if the violation causes a crash. For visitors, the regulations warn of citations that may mean appearing before a state or municipal judge.

Parking a Spin scooter in Fort Collins

Colorado law allows an e-scooter to be left on a sidewalk where no sign or local ordinance rules it out, provided people on foot and other traffic can still get by. On the road it may stand at any angle to the curb wherever parking is allowed, or alongside other scooters and bicycles, so long as traffic keeps moving normally (§ 42-4-1412(11)).

On the CSU campus its regulations are stricter, and its transportation office applies them to Spin’s scooters too:

• Racks only. An e-scooter may be left only at a bike rack, a bike garage or another approved parking area, and CSU’s transportation office requires it to stand upright.
• Never in the way. Not inside buildings or at their entrances, and not on walkways, bikeways, ramps, driveways or any route wheelchairs or emergency vehicles may need. Posts, railings, fences, signs and trees are off limits too.
• Fines. A parking violation costs $25, and leaving a scooter attached to an accessible ramp or route costs $50. A scooter parked against the rules, or left unmoved for 15 days, may be impounded.

Scooters on Transfort buses

Transfort, the bus service in Fort Collins, keeps Spin scooters off its buses, and Spin’s e-bikes too, as they weigh too much. You can bring a scooter of your own only if it folds: keep it folded on board, in front of you or under your seat, clear of the aisles, the exits and any free seat. Transfort turns away scooters that don’t fold, since they can’t be secured and would crowd other passengers.

What could change: Which Wheels Go Where?

The City has been considering new rules on which small vehicles may go where. At a work session on 23 September 2025, Council members spoke for simpler rules that keep pace with new vehicles, for more responsibility on larger and faster ones, and for a review of speeds on paved trails. The page’s January 2026 update said City staff were drafting an ordinance to update the traffic and municipal codes, to go before Council in 2026 after advice from the City’s advisory boards.

At its last update, on 23 September 2026, the page still showed the project at its “Ordinance development and Council adoption” stage, and the table above was still its account of the current rules.

Your own e-scooter in Fort Collins

Riding your own scooter, you follow the same state, City and campus rules as on a Spin; only on campus does it need registering. CSU’s regulations count as an e-scooter a stand-up device with handlebars and no more than two wheels of 10 inches or less, whose motor can take it no faster than 20 mph.

The City’s table treats other devices differently. A low-power scooter (up to 49 cc or 4,476 watts) may use bike lanes and streets but not sidewalks or trails. Electric skateboards, hoverboards, one-wheels and electric unicycles get a no in every column.

Elsewhere in Colorado

Other Colorado cities apply the same § 42-4-1412 with their own ordinances on top: see e-scooters in Boulder and e-scooters in Denver.