E-scooters in Norfolk, Virginia: Lime, the rules, and where you can ride

Which scooter app works in Norfolk?

The City of Norfolk’s Micro-Mobility Program names one company: Lime, with stand-up scooters since June 2019 and e-bikes since June 2021, all in the same app. The City Code allows only one scooter franchise at a time, so Lime has the city to itself. Lime was still running in October 2026, and it sponsored the City’s Bike Month in May 2026.

At 1:25 pm on 17 October 2026 the map of Norfolk showed about 2,880 Lime scooters: what was on the map at that moment, not the fleet. E-bikes aren’t counted. Lime’s open data that afternoon showed almost all its scooters inside the city limits, with large clusters around Old Dominion University, Ghent and Downtown.

New in town? You need a smartphone with data to unlock and end a ride. Lime also lets you unlock by text message and pay in cash, and offers discounted rides through Lime Access. For the basics, see how to rent an e-scooter.

How much does a Lime scooter cost in Norfolk?

Lime publishes no Norfolk prices, in its open data or on its website: the app shows the rate before you unlock. Old Dominion University’s scooter page, last updated in December 2023, gives $1 to unlock and $0.41 a minute. Treat that as a rough guide only, and check the app.

Norfolk scooter rules: age, helmets, speed and sidewalks

Two levels of law apply. The Code of Virginia calls an e-scooter a “motorized skateboard or scooter”: under 100 pounds, no faster than 20 mph on its motor, and not a motor vehicle. Norfolk’s City Code adds stricter rules, above all on sidewalks and fast roads.

Off the sidewalk, and off fast roads. Norfolk bans e-scooters on every sidewalk, not just Downtown, and on any street posted above 25 mph. The City’s 2019 FAQ only warned riders off busy shopping sidewalks; the code bans them all. If the only way is a fast road, get off and walk.

Where you can and can’t ride in Norfolk

• Downtown and Granby Street. Ride in the street or the bike lane: the City singles out Downtown’s sidewalks as no place to ride. Don’t ride or park in the City’s downtown parking garages.
• Waterside and Town Point Park. The waterfront from Town Point Park past Waterside to near the Berkley Bridge is a festival park, where skateboards are banned, and the City Code keeps shared scooters to places where bicycles and skateboards are allowed: walk yours there. The park rules also ban “motorized vehicles” without a permit, without saying whether that covers e-scooters. For Sail250 Virginia in June 2026 the City even banned pushing a scooter in the festival area, except to a marked rack.
• The Elizabeth River Trail. This 10.5-mile trail along the river is “designed for walking, running and biking”. The City Code lets bicycles ride it where it runs on Downtown sidewalks, but makes no such exception for scooters. Where it meets the Tide’s tracks, walk across at a right angle.
• The Tide. Never ride along or across the light-rail tracks or onto a platform, except at a marked crosswalk with traffic signals.
• Old Dominion University. Lime runs across the campus. Pick up and drop off at any bike rack, and never take a scooter into a building, ODU says.
• Norfolk State University. NSU’s scooter policy, revised in May 2021, says ride in the street or a bike lane, not on sidewalks or in crosswalks, park in its marked areas, and keep scooters out of buildings. The University can impound a scooter and charge a fee.
• Naval Station Norfolk. We found no open Navy page on e-scooters at the base. The Naval Safety Command says some commands and bases restrict or ban them, so check with your command before you ride on base.

Parking a Lime scooter in Norfolk

End your ride in a corral or at a bike rack. The City’s downtown corrals are in the Lime app, and its May 2021 map marked 23 of them. If none is near, park upright on the sidewalk, close to the curb, and keep clear of:

• curb ramps and the walking path;
• bus stops;
• building entrances;
• the street itself and the downtown parking garages.

Under state law, parking a scooter where it blocks people walking can bring a civil penalty of up to $50. The City can also remove a badly parked scooter and charge Lime $35, plus $5 a day in storage, and no more than 10 Lime scooters may stand on one block. Report a badly parked scooter to Lime on 1-888-546-3345 or through MyNorfolk.

HRT buses, the Tide and the ferry to Portsmouth

Hampton Roads Transit doesn’t take shared scooters: its code of conduct says pay-per-use scooters “are not allowed on HRT assets or vehicles”, and you must walk any scooter on transit-centre grounds. End your ride before you reach the station or the stop.

A single trip on a bus, the Tide or the ferry costs $2, and a one-day GoPass for all three $4.50. The Tide runs to 11 stations, from EVMC Fort Norfolk through Downtown and NSU to Newtown Road.

The Elizabeth River Ferry crosses from Waterside to High Street and North Landing in Portsmouth, usually every 30 minutes. Its Waterside dock reopened on 12 October 2026 after five weeks of City construction work. Lime’s open data shows almost no scooters in Portsmouth, so end your ride at Waterside.

Norfolk International Airport

Norfolk International Airport (ORF) lists rental cars, taxis, ride-hailing and limousines, but not public transit or scooters. On 17 October 2026 Lime’s open data showed the nearest scooters on Norview Avenue, just west of the airport grounds. Check the Lime app before you plan to end a ride at the terminal.

Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Chesapeake

On 17 October 2026 the map showed no shared scooters in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth or Chesapeake, and we found no current scooter-share programme in any of them. Virginia Beach lets companies rent out scooters only under a city franchise licence. It also bans e-scooters at the Oceanfront, from Rudee Loop to 42nd Street and from Arctic Avenue to the ocean, unless the scooter is your own, rented from a business with a fixed address, or from a licensed company.

Elsewhere in Virginia, the map showed about 450 Bird and Spin scooters in Richmond at the same moment, and about 750 Bird and Lime scooters in Arlington, across the river from Washington, DC.

Riding at night and through the year

There is no scooter curfew in Norfolk. Neither state law nor the City Code sets one, and the City’s open data shows Lime trips starting at every hour, 2 am to 4 am included. Nor is there a winter break: riders took nearly 33,000 scooter trips even in January 2025.

Did you know?

• Bird came first, uninvited. In August 2018 Bird put scooters on Norfolk’s streets without a permit; the City impounded more than 500 and gave them back for $20,000, WAVY reported.
• Riding is booming. Norfolk riders took 1,004,605 Lime scooter trips in 2025, and by 16 October 2026 they had already taken 1,053,782 that year, the City’s open data shows. The average 2026 trip lasted about 10 minutes and covered 1.3 miles.
• Sailors crash too. By its own unofficial count, the Naval Safety Command logged 16 Navy and Marine Corps e-scooter mishaps in fiscal 2025. In one, at a base it doesn’t name, a Sailor’s wheel caught in the train tracks in front of the piers.
• The rules may change. A state work group led by the DMV must report on e-bike and e-scooter safety to state lawmakers by 1 November 2026.