E-scooters in Oxford: Voi’s prices, parking bays and where you can ride

E-scooters in Oxford: Voi and the county council’s trial

One company, Voi, hires out e-scooters in Oxford. Oxfordshire County Council, the highway authority, runs the trial, and its page says Voi “operates our rental scheme” with around 850 e-scooters. The trial began in Headington on 18 February 2021 and has run around the clock since October 2022.

Lime is in Oxford too, but with e-bikes only: the council’s e-bike page lists Voi and Lime as the city’s two dockless e-bike operators.

How long will it run? The council says Oxford’s trial has been extended until 31 May 2028; the national trials that make hire scooters legal run until May 2028. On 18 June 2026 the council approved plans for a single operator of both hire e-scooters and e-bikes once its e-scooter contract expired on 30 September 2026. On 25 October 2026 its trial page still named Voi, and our map showed Voi’s scooters.

At 14:55 on Saturday 24 October 2026 the map of Oxford showed about 810 Voi e-scooters: a snapshot, not the fleet size. It shows their positions and battery, not prices, zones, bays or e-bikes. The total counts every Voi scooter in and around Oxford: overnight on 25 October almost all stood inside the city boundary, from Cutteslowe to Blackbird Leys; a few stood just beyond it, and none in Kidlington, Kennington or Abingdon.

How much does a Voi e-scooter cost in Oxford?

The county council’s page says “it costs 99p to unlock the scooter and then 24p per minute of the ride”. Oxford Travel Options, a travel site created by a local charity, gives £1 to unlock and the same 24p a minute, with prices “accurate as of August 2026”. The Voi app shows the current price before you unlock.

The council says Voi offers discounted rides to students, people on low incomes, and NHS and emergency service staff. Passes and discounts change, so check them in the app. New to hire scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.

Are e-scooters legal in Oxford? Age, licence and fines

Hire scooters are legal because Oxford is one of England’s 21 trial areas. You must be 18 or over with a full or provisional driving licence (category Q, included in every UK car, moped and motorcycle licence). Visitors can use a full EU or EEA licence, or another country’s full car, moped or motorcycle licence if they entered the UK in the last 12 months, but never a foreign provisional one; the app decides which licences it takes.

Voi runs a three-strike policy, the council says: a first strike blocks your account for a week, a second for a month, after which you must complete Voi’s Ride Safe Academy, and a third for good. Riding two up, on the pavement, outside Voi’s zone, dangerously or after drinking all count, and so does bad parking. An account used by an under-18 is banned for good at once. The national rules are in our guide to e-scooter law in the UK.

A private e-scooter is illegal on Oxford’s roads, pavements and cycle lanes and in its parks; the county council adds that they are “not legally permitted in public spaces (including on footpaths and public bridleways)”. 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’s ridden anti-socially.

Where can you ride a Voi in Oxford? Zones and the trial area

You may ride on roads, cycle lanes and shared cycle and footpaths inside the trial area, the council says. It publishes no list of the slow-ride and no-ride zones: they are in the Voi app, so check its map before you set off for the city centre. Ride past the edge of the operating area and the software slows you down gradually.

One street has its own traffic order: Market Street, from Cornmarket to just short of Turl Street, has been a pedestrian and cycle zone at all times since April 2024. The county council’s order, first experimental and now permanent, exempts “street legal E-scooters”; the app’s zones still apply.

The area may grow. Under plans approved on 18 June 2026, the council aims to expand hire e-scooters and e-bikes, “subject to local and DfT approval”, to Botley, Kennington, Kidlington and Horspath, and potentially to Abingdon and Wheatley. Until then, the app’s map shows where you can ride and end a ride.

Where to park a Voi e-scooter in Oxford

“In Oxford, users can only end their rides in mandatory parking zones, which are clearly identified in the app,” the council says. In 2021 Voi began asking for a photo of the parked scooter at the end of each ride, the council said.

Bad parking counts as a strike. In June 2021 the council said riders who park badly get a warning by email first, then a £25 fine. In April 2026 Voi announced an Oxford Parking Fund of at least £3.5m over the next few years, the BBC reported: street patrols at known hotspots, a trial of parking on the carriageway to free narrow pavements, and tighter controls for riders who keep parking badly.

To report a badly parked or misused scooter, give Voi the four-character number plate on its side and back, with the date, time and place.

Can you ride a Voi at the hospital, Brookes or on the towpath?

Landowners set their own rules, and some ban e-scooters outright:

Brookes students can still hire a Voi: the university says there are parking points near its halls and campuses, so leave the scooter there and walk in.

Oxford station, trains and buses

You can’t take a hire scooter on a bus or a train: the council says they “can’t be folded or collapsed in any way and can’t be taken on public transport or train stations”. GWR says Voi has hire bays close to Oxford station, so end your ride there and walk in.

• GWR, whose trains link Oxford with London Paddington: “E-scooters are banned on all GWR trains and stations.” Anyone who brings one will be asked to leave, and an unattended e-scooter is treated as abandoned and disposed of.
• Chiltern Railways, from Oxford to London Marylebone: since 12 June 2023 e-scooters, and charging them, are not permitted on its trains or in its stations, because of the fire risk.
• Buses: the council’s line above covers them; we couldn’t check Oxford Bus Company’s or Stagecoach’s own conditions.

Heading to London? Voi hires out e-scooters there too: see the map of London, and e-scooter hire in the UK for all 21 trial areas.

Did you know?

• A slow start. At the launch in February 2021 the scooters were held to 10 mph and, for the first two weeks, could be hired only from 6am to 10pm.
• Over 100 times around the world. By May 2024 Oxford’s hire scooters had covered more than 2.5 million miles, the council said.
• A record 2025. Riders made 1.5 million trips on Voi’s e-scooters and e-bikes in Oxford in 2025, with a peak of 164,000 in October, Voi told the BBC.
• A college bay. Wolfson College got its own Voi bay, for six e-scooters, in the year to May 2024, the council said.