E-scooters in Nagoya: renting LUUP, who may ride, where to ride and where to park
You rent e-scooters in Nagoya from LUUP, at its ports: it is the one company the map shows there, and the only one we could confirm renting them in 2026. Japanese law lets anyone 16 or over ride the 20 km/h class without a driving licence, and asks riders only to try to wear a helmet. Keep to the left edge of the road, use the pavement only where a sign lets bicycles on it and only in the 6 km/h mode, and end the ride at a LUUP port: the City removes e-scooters left in its no-parking zones, Sakae’s among them, and charges ¥5,000 to give one back.
Electric scooter rental in Nagoya: LUUP on the map
The map shows one company’s e-scooters in Nagoya, LUUP, counted at its ports: each port on the Nagoya map shows how many scooters stand there, without their charge or range, and ports closed at the time are left off. At 03:06 on Friday 30 October 2026, Nagoya time, the map’s Nagoya figure was about 830 LUUP scooters: a snapshot, not a fleet size.
That figure takes in LUUP’s Nagoya service as a whole, not the city alone: any of its ports just over the city line, in neighbouring cities such as Kiyosu, Kitanagoya, Kasugai, Owariasahi, Nagakute, Nisshin or Toyoake, count as Nagoya too.
ScootRadar shows standing e-scooters only: not LUUP’s e-bikes or seated scooters, nor any bike share. Nor does it show Su_i (スーイ), the e-scooter share of Crystal, a Nagoya company: it ran in the Nagoya area in August 2024, Space Connect reported, and we couldn’t confirm it still does. We found no other company renting e-scooters in Nagoya.
New to shared scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.
LUUP Nagoya: prices, ports and the City’s share scheme
LUUP started in Nagoya on 30 May 2023, with about 50 ports planned, the whole city as its area and the busiest roads closed to its riders by LUUP itself, marked in the app, Impress Watch reported. Its fares:
| Fare | Price | Reported |
|---|---|---|
| Nagoya at launch | ¥50 to start, then ¥15 a minute | 18 May 2023 |
| Standard fare in Japan | ¥50 to start, then ¥20 a minute; some areas differ | 8 July 2026 |
| Monthly plan, Nagoya among its areas | ¥980 a month, then ¥200 for each 30 minutes | 8 July 2026 |
The 2026 report doesn’t say which rate Nagoya pays: LUUP’s app shows the price before you ride.
Since April 2020 Nagoya City has provided public land for share ports, as a trial. On 10 September 2026 it chose four partners for the permanent scheme, with agreements due to run from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2031: LUUP, Charichari, Meitetsu Kyosho and a consortium of Enephant and Open Street (HELLO CYCLING). The scheme is for bicycles, e-assist ones included, not e-scooters.
Japan’s guideline for rental companies asks them to make riders return the scooter to a rental point (貸出拠点); the app shows where a ride may end. Japanese law sets no night ban.
Can you ride one? Age, licence and what visitors need
Japan’s rules hang on a class the Road Traffic Act (道路交通法) has had since 1 July 2023: the specified small motorised bicycle, 特定原付 for short. To count, a scooter can’t go faster than 20 km/h, is no more than 190 cm long and 60 cm wide, has a motor of no more than 0.6 kW and carries a green lamp that shows its top speed. A scooter that doesn’t meet the standards stays a moped or a motor vehicle under the law: it needs a licence and may not use the pavement, the National Police Agency (NPA) says.
- No driving licence is needed for the class.
- 16 or over. Riding under 16 is banned, and so is giving an e-scooter to someone under 16 who may ride it.
- Helmet. The law asks riders to try to wear one (an effort duty, 努力義務) and sets no penalty.
Japan’s March 2023 guideline asks rental companies to check every user’s age and to have everyone, foreigners included, pass a rules test or watch a video first. LUUP asks for an age document and for perfect scores in a row on its rules test, Impress Watch reported in July 2026.
Where can you ride in Nagoya? The road, cycle tracks and the 6 km/h pavement mode
On the road. Ride on the roadway or a cycle track (自転車道), at the left edge and never on the right-hand side, the NPA says. Riding where you may not, the pavement included, costs ¥6,000 on the spot.
On the pavement, only where a sign allows bicycles (普通自転車等及び歩行者等専用, “bicycles and pedestrians only”) and only in the scooter’s pavement mode, in which the green top-speed lamp flashes and it can’t go faster than 6 km/h. Keep to the half nearer the roadway, or to the part marked for bicycles, let pedestrians go first and stop if they are in the way: not doing so costs ¥3,000. In that mode you may also use the roadside strip (路側帯) on the left unless it is for pedestrians only, and on a crossing you follow the pedestrian lights.
Signs. Follow a light that carries a “pedestrians and bicycles” plate. Never ride the wrong way up a one-way street unless a plate exempts bicycles (自転車を除く), which covers e-scooters too.
Right turns always take two stages: ride straight across on the green to the far corner, turn to face your new direction and go when the light ahead turns green. A green right-turn arrow is not for you. Turning any other way costs ¥3,000.
One rider, hands free, sober. Carrying a passenger costs ¥5,000, and using a phone for a call or watching its screen while moving ¥12,000. Riding after drinking is banned outright.
Sakae, Nagoya Station, Osu and Hisaya-odori Park: where to park
Don’t leave it on the street. Nagoya City’s ordinance on abandoned bicycles (名古屋市自転車等の放置の防止に関する条例) covers e-scooters as mopeds. Anything left in one of its no-parking zones (放置禁止区域) may be removed at once, and getting an e-scooter back costs ¥5,000, in cash, with ID; after a month it is disposed of. The depots hand nothing back on public holidays or from 29 December to 3 January.
Sakae is a no-parking zone as a whole area, set in April 2023 and March 2024 and widened on 1 October 2024. Scooters removed west of Hisaya-odori Park, and around Osu Kannon, Fushimi and Marunouchi, go to the Rokutan depot; those from the park and east of it, to the Sakae depot (both daily, 14:00 to 20:00). Around Nagoya Station they go to the Shukuato depot in Nakamura ward (Monday to Saturday, 14:00 to 19:00).
Hisaya-odori Park. In its north and TV Tower areas, run since 18 September 2020 as Hisaya-odori Park, the City bans riding a bicycle (get off and push it), skateboards and roller skates. It doesn’t name e-scooters: push one through as cyclists must.
Nagoya Castle and Osu. We found no e-scooter rule of their own from Nagoya Castle or Osu’s shopping streets: the road rules above apply.
Japan’s e-scooter rules in 2026, as they apply in Nagoya
The Road Traffic Act sets the riding rules everywhere in Japan, and its Enforcement Order the on-the-spot penalties (反則金) below, as in force in October 2026: they are the same as in Tokyo and Kyoto. Nagoya City adds its own on parking.
| Rule | What applies | Penalty | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 16 or over; nobody may give one to an under-16 likely to ride | Up to 6 months’ imprisonment or ¥100,000, for the rider or the giver | State: Road Traffic Act art. 64-2 |
| Helmet | Try to wear one | None | State: Road Traffic Act art. 71-4(3) |
| Where to ride | Roadway at the left edge, or a cycle track; not the right-hand side or an unsigned pavement | ¥6,000 | State: Road Traffic Act |
| Pavement mode | Signed pavements only, at 6 km/h, pedestrians first | ¥3,000 | State: Road Traffic Act art. 17-2 |
| Signals and signs | Obey the lights, no-entry and stop signs | ¥6,000 for a red light; ¥5,000 for no entry or a stop sign | State: Road Traffic Act |
| Right turns | Always in two stages | ¥3,000 | State: Road Traffic Act |
| Phone | No calls or watching the screen while moving | ¥12,000 | State: Road Traffic Act |
| Passengers | One rider only | ¥5,000 | State: Road Traffic Act |
| Alcohol | No riding after drinking | Over the limit, up to 3 years or ¥500,000; drunk, up to 5 years or ¥1,000,000 | State: Road Traffic Act art. 65 |
| Parking | Return to a rental point; not on the street | ¥5,000 to get a removed scooter back | Companies under the national guideline; Nagoya City |
Repeat offenders go back to class. Aichi Prefecture’s public safety commission can order a rider who keeps committing any of 17 kinds of dangerous riding, red lights and riding on the pavement among them, onto a three-hour course, for a fee; skipping it can bring a fine of up to ¥50,000 (Road Traffic Act art. 108-3-5).
Taking your own e-scooter on Nagoya’s trains
Kintetsu, whose trains to Osaka leave from Kintetsu Nagoya, lets e-scooters aboard only as it does bicycles: taken apart or folded and packed in a bag made for them (rules as of 6 August 2026). You may bring two free items, each within 250 cm in length, width and height added together, 2 m long and 30 kg.
Meitetsu and JR Central set the same limits and let bicycles aboard only taken apart or folded and bagged; neither names e-scooters (JR Central’s passenger rules, art. 308). We found no e-scooter rule from Nagoya City’s subway and buses.
A shared scooter ends its ride at a port instead; to find one near your station, open the Nagoya map.
Did you know?
- LUUP wasn’t first. Crystal, a Nagoya firm that develops in-car systems for carmakers, started the city’s first e-scooter share in April 2023, and LUUP followed at the end of May, Nikkan Kogyo reported on 23 June 2023.
- Why Nagoya. LUUP told Nikkan Kogyo that Nagoya’s rail network falls short; north–south trips are poorly served, the paper added.
- A regional first. On 22 January 2025 LUUP opened a port at a FamilyMart in Nishi ward: the Tokai region’s first e-scooter-share port at a convenience store, by LUUP’s count.
- Electric kickboards. In Japanese these scooters are 電動キックボード (“electric kickboards”): to find them, search “電動キックボード 名古屋”.
Questions
- Which e-scooters can you rent in Nagoya?
- LUUP’s, shown on the map at its ports. Crystal’s Su_i ran in the Nagoya area in 2024; we couldn’t confirm it still does.
- How much does LUUP cost in Nagoya?
- Impress Watch gave LUUP’s standard fare in Japan as ¥50 to start and ¥20 a minute on 8 July 2026, adding that some areas differ; it didn’t say which Nagoya pays. The app shows the price before you ride.
- Do you need a driving licence to ride an e-scooter in Nagoya?
- Not for the 20 km/h class, the specified small motorised bicycle: you only need to be 16 or over, visitors included.
- What happens if you leave an e-scooter on the street in Nagoya?
- In a no-parking zone, such as Sakae’s, the City may remove it at once, and getting it back costs ¥5,000 in cash. A shared scooter belongs at a LUUP port.
- Can you take an e-scooter on the train in Nagoya?
- Your own, on Kintetsu, only folded or taken apart and bagged, within its carry-on limits. Meitetsu’s and JR Central’s rules name only bicycles, on the same terms.