E-scooters in Ottawa: Bird and Lime, the rules, where you can’t ride and when the season ends

Which e-scooter apps work in Ottawa, and what do they cost?

In October 2026 the City of Ottawa names two companies that rent shared e-scooters:

• Bird, run by Bird Canada, in the Bird app.
• Lime, in the Lime app. Lime Canada announced on 3 July 2026 that it was buying Neuron, one of the City’s two operators, and has since replaced Neuron’s scooters; it told CTV News it would run 500 in Ottawa.

Some tourism companies also rent e-scooters, the City says; our map shows only Bird and Lime.

Prices. Neither company publishes an Ottawa price outside its app, which shows the fare before you unlock. Bird charges an unlock fee and a rate per minute, plus taxes and “compliance fees”, and sells ride passes and a Bird Plus subscription. Bird’s Community & Access pricing can lower fares for seniors, veterans and people on income assistance; Lime Access does the same for low-income riders, such as those on Ontario Works or ODSP. We found no student discount.

At 3:25 pm on 17 October 2026 the map of Ottawa showed about 460 Lime and 430 Bird scooters: a snapshot, not the fleets.

Visiting? Get the app before you go; Bird takes a credit, debit or prepaid card. New to this? See how to rent an e-scooter.

E-scooters in Ottawa: the pilot, the operators and the service area

Ontario allows e-scooters only under a pilot project, where a city opts in by by-law; Ottawa did in June 2020. Extended in October 2024, Ontario’s pilot and the City’s by-law both end on 27 November 2029; Ontario will then decide whether e-scooters stay for good.

• 2022: the City chose two operators, Bird Canada and Neuron; Lime, part of the 2020 pilot, didn’t return.
• April 2025: Council extended the City’s pilot by five years, to 2029, with the same two companies. That season the fleet was capped at 1,000 scooters, 500 each, and rentals ran 24 hours a day, except in the ByWard Market.
• July 2026: Lime took over from Neuron.

The City hasn’t published a cap for 2026. Rentals still run around the clock, with night limits in the ByWard Market (see below).

Where the scooters run. The 2026 service area runs from Churchill Avenue in the west to St. Laurent Boulevard in the east, and from the Ottawa River south to Carling Avenue and the Rideau River. When we tested places against Bird’s open data on 22 October 2026, downtown, Centretown, the Glebe, Sandy Hill, Hintonburg, Westboro, New Edinburgh and Vanier were inside it. Kanata, Orléans, Barrhaven and the airport lie well outside.

E-scooter rules in Ottawa and Ontario in 2026

Ontario’s pilot regulation under the Highway Traffic Act sets the basic rules for every e-scooter, rented or your own, and treats you on the road like a cyclist. The City’s by-law says where you may ride and park; the Criminal Code covers impaired riding.

Never ride on the sidewalk. Ottawa Police can write a C$150 ticket. Where there’s no bike lane or City pathway, ride at the right edge of a road posted at 50 km/h or less, or get off and walk.

Fines. Breaking Ontario’s pilot rules is a Highway Traffic Act offence, with a fine of C$250 to C$2,500 on conviction. Under the City’s by-law, riding on a sidewalk can cost you C$150.

Coming from Calgary? Its rules differ: see e-scooters in Calgary.

Where you can’t ride: the ByWard Market, Parliament Hill and NCC pathways

Bird and Lime build the City’s no-ride, no-parking and slow zones into their apps: around transit stations, the NCC’s pathways, the ByWard Market and City parking garages. Check the app map before you set off.

• The ByWard Market. The companies geofence it, York Street excepted, and the police say e-scooters aren’t allowed in the Market. Nights are stricter: the City kept the Market out of 24-hour service in 2025, and Bird bars riding there from 11 pm to 5 am.
• Parliament Hill. No riding, Bird says; its service area, in its open data, stops short of the Hill, the Supreme Court and the Canadian War Museum.
• NCC pathways. The National Capital Commission bans electric kick-style scooters from its Capital Pathway, including the pathways along the Rideau Canal and the Ottawa River, and that covers your own scooter too.
• The campuses. Bird slows to 15 km/h at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Carleton is inside the service area; the canal pathway beside it is NCC land.
• Lansdowne. Bird’s open data bars starting or ending a ride at Lansdowne: ride through, but park outside it.

Our test of Bird’s open data on 22 October 2026 also put Dow’s Lake, the Central Experimental Farm, Billings Bridge, the VIA Rail station, the Canada Science and Technology Museum and Rideau Hall outside its service area. Lime publishes no zones: check its app.

Parking a Bird or Lime scooter in Ottawa

You may park only in a designated spot: a signed e-scooter space or a virtual spot shown in the app. In 2025 the City counted about 600 virtual spots and 22 marked ones; Bird’s open data listed 567 in October 2026.

1. Find a parking spot on the app map before you get there.
2. Park upright and out of people’s way. On a sidewalk, use only the furniture zone, in line with bike racks and benches, and only where the sidewalk is at least 2 m wide.
3. End the ride in the app and take the photo it asks for.

The app won’t end a ride outside a parking spot, and you keep paying until you find one. By-law officers can move or impound a misparked scooter, and Bird’s terms pass parking tickets and impound charges on to you, plus an admin fee.

When does e-scooter season end in Ottawa, and when do scooters come back?

The 2026 season began on Monday 27 April and runs until 15 November, weather permitting, the City says. From 16 November the shared scooters are off the streets until spring.

The City sets each season’s start and hasn’t announced 2027’s. Recent seasons began on 18 April 2024, 15 May 2025 and 27 April 2026; the 2024 and 2025 seasons also ended on 15 November. Check the City’s e-scooter pages or the apps from April.

The O-Train, YOW airport, Gatineau and sightseeing

The O-Train. You may not ride in a transit station, and the companies geofence them, so end your ride at a parking spot outside. The City lets you walk a personal e-scooter onto O-Train vehicles.

YOW Ottawa International Airport. No scooters reach it: the terminal is about 6 km south of the service area. Take O-Train Line 4 from Airport station, on the terminal’s level 3, to South Keys (6 am to midnight), or bus 105, every 30 minutes around the clock, to St-Laurent station by day and Rideau station at night.

Gatineau. Across the Ottawa River lies Gatineau, in Québec. Bird’s service area ends at the river, with none of the bridges inside it, and we found no shared e-scooters in Gatineau, so a rental won’t take you across. On a scooter of your own, Québec’s pilot rules apply there, including a helmet at any age.

Sightseeing. The Rideau Centre, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Glebe and Lansdowne are inside Bird’s service area. To find the nearest scooter, open the Ottawa map.

Did you know?

• Canada Day is the busiest day. It topped both the 2024 and 2025 seasons; in 2025 it brought about 3,500 of the season’s 229,000 or so trips.
• The average 2025 trip lasted about 12.5 minutes and covered 2 km, and more trips started between 10 and 11 pm than in any other hour.
• Sidewalk detection isn’t foolproof. When City staff tested it in 2025, the warning worked on 29 of 115 scooters and the motor cut out on 16 of 109.