E-scooters in San Antonio: Bird and Veo, what a ride costs, the rules and where you can’t ride

Which e-scooter apps work in San Antonio?

The City’s Downtown Operations department runs the programme. Its contracts with Bird and Veo began on 1 October 2023 and cap each company at 1,000 vehicles, 2,000 in all; in November 2025 the City Council extended them by a year, to 30 September 2026, City staff said. In May 2026 the City sought new bids (RFP 26-077) from two operators with 1,000 vehicles each. We found no new contract on a Council agenda by 21 October, and both companies were still running on 22 October 2026: check the City’s dockless vehicles page for any change.

• Bird: stand-up scooters in the Bird app, under contract with the City since January 2020.
• Veo: stand-up and seated scooters, the Astro and the Cosmo, in the Veo app. It replaced Razor in October 2023.
• Lime pulled out in January 2020, days before its City contract began, after Lyft and Jump had gone.

At 14:25 on 17 October 2026 the San Antonio map showed about 850 Bird and 295 Veo scooters: what was on the map at that moment, not the fleets. The map shows stand-up scooters only, so Veo’s seated scooters, which its open data lists as bicycles, aren’t on it; before dawn on 22 October Veo listed about 640 seated scooters and 310 stand-up ones.

Visiting? Install the Bird or Veo app and add a payment card before you set out. If something goes wrong, the City lists both companies’ help lines: Bird 1-855-237-9944, Veo 1-855-836-2256. New to this? See how to rent an e-scooter.

How much does a scooter cost in San Antonio?

On 22 October 2026 Veo’s open data gave one rate for its stand-up and seated scooters: $1 to unlock and $0.43 a minute, plus tax. Bird’s gives none, nor does its website, so check the Bird app before you unlock.

Both companies have cheaper plans for eligible riders, which the City listed on its dockless vehicles page on 22 October 2026:

• Bird Community Pricing: half price on the unlock and per-minute fees for people on low incomes, seniors, Pell Grant recipients, and staff of approved nonprofits.
• Bird Access: two free rides a day of up to 30 minutes each, paying only a $0.50 unlock fee.
• Veo Access: $5 a month for no unlock fees and 30 free minutes a day, then $0.20 a minute.

San Antonio scooter rules: age, helmets, sidewalks and speed

Texas sets few rules. Chapter 551 of the Transportation Code lets a “motor-assisted scooter” use streets posted at 35 mph or less, sidewalks and bike paths, applies the bicycle rules to it, and lets cities ban it from streets and sidewalks. San Antonio adds Article XIX of its City Code, and breaking it is a Class C misdemeanour with a fine of up to $500 for each offence.

River Walk, the Alamo and Hemisfair: where you can’t ride

• The River Walk. The City Code bans riding on it, the Museum Reach and Mission Reach included, and on the city’s trails and creekways: ride on the streets instead. On 22 October 2026 Bird’s open data marked stretches of the River Walk as no-parking zones.
• Alamo Plaza and the old plazas. The City Code names Alamo Plaza, La Villita, Main Plaza and Market Square; you may ride on the public streets that cross them. On 22 October 2026 Bird’s data also marked Travis Park and Plaza de Armas, among others, as no-parking.
• Hemisfair. Its conservancy bans scooters on the sidewalks of its three parks: ride on the district’s streets.
• The Pearl. “Pearl is scooter-free”, its FAQ says; its 2019 ban covered the heart of the complex, between West Josephine Street, Avenue A, Newell Avenue and East Elmira Street. Bird’s data showed no zone there on 22 October 2026, so the app may not warn you: park outside and walk in.
• The missions. On 22 October 2026 Mission Concepción lay just outside Bird’s area and the others further out: before dawn that day the nearest scooter was about 2 miles from Mission San José. San Antonio BCycle’s e-bikes, which run around the clock, link the Alamo with all four missions; a one-hour pass costs $15.
• Where the areas end. On 22 October 2026 Bird’s open data showed a main area from about a mile north of Trinity University to just short of Mission Concepción, plus a separate one around UTSA’s main campus. Veo publishes no zones, but almost all its scooters were in the same central area. The live map shows where scooters are now.

Check the app’s map before you set off: you can’t end a ride in a no-parking zone.

Parking a scooter in San Antonio

The City Code bans parking in the street except in spaces the City marks with paint, decals or signs. On the sidewalk, park upright, leave at least 3 feet clear, and keep away from:

• bus stops: the 15 feet behind the bus-stop pole, across the whole sidewalk;
• loading zones, disabled parking and building entrances: 8 feet;
• curb ramps, entryways and driveways: 5 feet;
• benches, pay stations and transit signs: 4 feet;
• trails, creekways, plazas and parks, the River Walk included, and bike-share docks.

A company must move a scooter parked in a banned spot or blocking an ADA ramp within an hour of being told, and fix other faults within two hours; after that the City may impound it and charge the company $100. Bird asks for a photo when you park and says blocking access “is subject to fees”. Report a scooter in the way to 311 (210-207-6000).

VIA buses, the airport (SAT) and event days

VIA bans motorised scooters aboard its vehicles, and its bike racks don’t take rental or app-based e-bikes, so end your ride before you board. A bus ride costs $1.30 and a Day Pass $2.75.

San Antonio International Airport (SAT) lay outside Bird’s area on 22 October 2026, and before dawn that day the nearest scooter was about 4 miles away. VIA’s Route 5 serves the airport about hourly from 5 am to 10:30 pm, and Express Route 7 reaches downtown in about 20 minutes, every 30 minutes on weekdays until 7 pm, for $2.60. The stop is on the lower level outside baggage claim at Terminal B.

Event days. The Alamodome, where UTSA plays its home football games, lay inside Bird’s area but in a no-parking zone on 22 October 2026, so leave the scooter a few streets away; the City may also order scooters cleared for special events. The Frost Bank Center, on the East Side, lay outside Bird’s area, and the nearest scooters were about 1.4 miles away that morning.

Students. On 22 October 2026 we found no Veo scooters in Bird’s separate area around UTSA’s main campus, and Bird’s data marked Trinity University’s campus as no-parking.

Can you ride a scooter at night in San Antonio?

Yes. The City banned scooter rides between 11 pm and 6 am from February 2019 until December 2019, when the City Council lifted the curfew, at first for a trial, with the contracts that began in January 2020. Neither the City Code nor the City’s dockless vehicles page sets night hours today; at 4 am on 22 October 2026 Veo listed about 950 vehicles available, seated ones included, and Bird about 860 scooters.

Did you know?

• Riders took 5,176,583 trips from 1 January 2020 to 18 October 2026, the City’s dashboard says, and almost 90% of them started in Council District 1, which takes in downtown.
• The river swallowed dozens of scooters. When the City drained the downtown channel in January 2020, crews pulled “dozens” of sunken scooters from the riverbed.
• San Antonio once had about 16,000 permitted scooters from seven companies, in 2019. Today’s cap is 2,000.
• In Texas law a scooter can have a seat. The Transportation Code defines a motor-assisted scooter as having a deck to stand or sit on, which is why Veo’s seated Cosmo counts as one.