E-scooters on the Isle of Wight: Voi hire, the Solent trial, and the ferries

E-scooters on the Isle of Wight: Voi and the Solent trial

Voi hires out the island’s e-scooters. The government’s list of rental trial areas, updated on 7 July 2026, has the Solent (the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton) among 21 areas, and its change log shows the island arriving first: “Solent (Isle of Wight)” was added on 9 December 2020, and Portsmouth and Southampton on 31 March 2021. The government says the 21 live trials are due to end on 31 May 2028. On 1 November 2026 Red Funnel’s guide to getting around the island said Voi hires out e-scooters and e-bikes in some of the main towns.

At 06:33 GMT on Sunday 1 November 2026 the map of the Isle of Wight showed 216 Voi e-scooters free to rent at that moment. The total takes in the whole island; at 04:45 GMT that morning the scooters stood in four towns and their edges: Newport, Cowes, East Cowes and Ryde, with a few in Seaview, Wootton Bridge and Fishbourne. The map shows where each scooter stands and its battery, not prices, zones, parking places or Voi’s e-bikes; you unlock and pay in the Voi app.

Where are the scooters? Newport, Cowes, East Cowes and Ryde

At 04:45 the map showed none in Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Bembridge, Yarmouth or Freshwater, so don’t count on one on the south or west coast. Unlike Portsmouth’s, the island’s scooters were on the map late at night: at 23:25 GMT on Saturday 31 October it showed 216 on the island, and at 23:37 none across the water in Portsmouth. Check the app for the hours before a late ride.

How much does a Voi e-scooter cost on the Isle of Wight?

The Voi app shows the unlock fee, the price per minute and any passes before you start; the map doesn’t show prices. New to hire scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter, and for every trial area in England, e-scooter hire in the UK.

Who can ride a Voi, and what gets you fined

You need a full or provisional driving licence with category Q, which comes with every UK car, moped and motorcycle licence; with a provisional one you don’t need L plates, the government says. Visitors can use a full EU or EEA licence, or another country’s full driving licence within 12 months of entering the UK, but never a foreign provisional licence or learner permit. The legal minimum age is 16, but many operators rent only to riders of 18 or over: the Voi app checks your licence and your age before your first ride.

The operator provides third-party insurance for every ride. The national rules are in our guide to e-scooter law in the UK.

A private e-scooter is illegal on the island’s roads, pavements and cycle lanes and in its parks; you may ride one only on private land with the owner’s permission. Riding one counts as riding an uninsured motor vehicle: a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points, and the police can seize it, since 29 June 2026 without a warning first if it is ridden anti-socially. On 30 October 2026 there was no government bill to change this, and in September the Department for Transport said only that it would consult on e-scooter rules “over the next year”.

Where can you ride and leave a Voi?

In a trial area you may ride on the road, except motorways, in cycle lanes and on cycle routes with the blue bicycle sign, unless a sign bans e-scooters there, but never on the pavement, the government’s guidance says. Where you may ride and end a ride, and any go-slow or no-go zones, are in the Voi app; the map here doesn’t draw them, so check the app before you set off for a beach or a village outside the four towns.

Ryde. At 04:58 GMT on 1 November 2026 the map showed 20 scooters in Ryde North West, the ward that takes in Ryde Pier, whose head is Wightlink’s FastCat port.

Cowes and East Cowes. Red Funnel’s West Cowes and East Cowes terminals are on either side of the River Medina. The Isle of Wight Council’s floating bridge between the two towns takes bicycles and scooters only if they are pushed or carried: its terms of use bar riding them on board. On 1 November 2026 a foot passenger’s single cost £1, or 50p with a Saver Card.

Newport. At 04:45 GMT on 1 November 2026 the map showed 67 scooters in Newport, home of the Isle of Wight Council’s County Hall, 31 of them in and around the centre. Its bus station is the bigger of the island’s two main ones, with a travel shop, Red Funnel’s guide says.

Ferries: Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel

• Wightlink: on 1 November 2026 its questions-and-answers page said it bans e-scooters and other small e-vehicles from its ships and FastCats and from its customer buildings, because fire services report a growing number of fires caused by their batteries, and that the ban stays until there is better understanding and legislation. E-bikes, electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters are not affected. Its FastCats cross from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head in 22 minutes, and its car ferries sail from Portsmouth and Lymington to Fishbourne and Yarmouth.
• Red Funnel: e-scooters are not allowed on board or in its terminal areas, and that covers carrying, storing and charging them, its luggage and bicycles page said on 1 November 2026. Bicycles travel free on the car ferry between Southampton and East Cowes, and the Red Jet between Southampton and West Cowes has bike racks.
• Hovertravel, the hovercraft from Southsea to Ryde, sets its own rules: ask it before you travel.

A Voi can’t go with you, so end your ride before you board and pick up another on the far side: at 06:33 GMT on 1 November 2026 the map showed 556 free to rent in Portsmouth and 758 in Southampton. See e-scooters in Portsmouth and e-scooters in Southampton, the trial’s other two towns.

Island Line and the buses

South Western Railway, which runs Island Line, bans private e-scooters from all railway premises: station forecourts, cycle stores, station buildings, platforms and trains. Hire e-scooters may come onto a station forecourt only to reach or leave designated hire bays, and never into station buildings, onto platforms or onto trains, its bike page said on 1 November 2026. Island Line carries up to four bicycles free, in the Shanklin end of each train.

The line runs from Ryde Pier Head through Ryde Esplanade, Ryde St John’s Road, Smallbrook Junction, Brading, Sandown and Lake to Shanklin, Red Funnel’s guide says. Of its towns only Ryde had Voi scooters on the map at 04:45 GMT on 1 November 2026, so don’t count on one in Sandown or Shanklin.

Southern Vectis runs the island’s buses, with bus stations in Newport and Ryde, Red Funnel’s guide says. End your Voi ride before you get on.

Did you know?

• First in the Solent. The government added the Isle of Wight to its list of e-scooter trial areas on 9 December 2020, nearly four months before Portsmouth and Southampton.
• A ferry with chains. The terms of the Isle of Wight Council’s floating bridge across the Medina ban sitting or standing on its prows or chains, and boarding while the prow is raised.
• 22 minutes to Portsmouth. Wightlink’s FastCat links Ryde Pier Head with Portsmouth Harbour station, and Wightlink says its six vehicle ferries and two FastCats sail 364 days a year.
• Two hours round the coast. Red Funnel says you can travel round the island’s entire coastline in about two hours.