E-scooters in Warsaw: Bolt, Dott and Lime, prices, and where you may ride and park
To rent an e-scooter in Warsaw, use the Bolt, Dott or Lime app: the three companies in the city’s e-scooter agreement of May 2026. Bolt and Dott rent only to riders aged 18 or over. Bolt charges from PLN 0.22 a minute plus an unlock fee (its rate for Poland, 25 October 2026); Dott and Lime show prices in the app. Ride on the cycle path at no more than 20 km/h, on the pavement only at walking pace where there’s no other way, and park at a marked rack or the pavement’s outer edge, never in the Old Town or Łazienki Park.
Bolt, Dott and Lime: who rents e-scooters in Warsaw
No law lets Warsaw set binding rules for e-scooters, says its roads authority, Zarząd Dróg Miejskich (ZDM), so the city relies on voluntary agreements: since 2021, and since 22 May 2026 new ones with Bolt, Dott and Lime, the three renting here. The companies accept slow and no-go zones, parking places and penalties.
At 13:50 on Sunday 25 October 2026 the map of Warsaw showed about 11,700 Dott and Bolt e-scooters (5,950 Bolt, 5,800 Dott): a snapshot, not the fleet size. Lime joined the map that evening; a full scan of Lime’s Warsaw zone, finished at 18:12, counted about 8,300, the most of the three. The map builds that total zone by zone, not at one moment, so don’t add it to the others.
The map shows where each scooter stands, with Bolt’s and Lime’s battery charge where shared, but no prices, zones, parking or hours.
At 15:17, 94% of the 11,685 Dott and Bolt scooters then on the map stood inside the city boundary, about 2,340 in Śródmieście, the centre. The other 720 or so were all Dott, mostly in Pruszków (about 310), Marki (130) and Ząbki (80). About a quarter of Lime’s zone also lies outside the city, in Piaseczno, Legionowo, Pruszków and other neighbours.
New to shared scooters? See how to rent an e-scooter.
How much does an e-scooter cost in Warsaw?
You pay to unlock, then by the minute; none of the three publishes a Warsaw price, so check the app first.
| Operator | Pay as you go | Passes |
|---|---|---|
| Bolt | From PLN 0.22 a minute plus an unlock fee that varies by place (its Polish page; its English page says from €0.15) | Unlimited unlocks from €0.99 a month; minute passes |
| Dott | In the app: “check the price in your city in the Dott app” | Day, week and month passes |
| Lime | In the Lime app | In the Lime app |
Where can you ride an e-scooter in Warsaw?
Polish law, the Prawo o ruchu drogowym (Road Traffic Act), treats an e-scooter as a vehicle that may go no faster than 20 km/h. Where you ride follows a strict order:
- The cycle path or cycle lane, where there’s one for your direction.
- Otherwise the road, but only where the speed limit is 30 km/h or less.
- The pavement only where it runs beside a road with a limit above 30 km/h and there’s no cycle path or lane. Then ride at close to walking pace and give way to pedestrians.
The agreement also has the companies build zones into their scooters (ZDM, 22 May 2026):
- No riding or parking: the Old Town (Stare Miasto), Krasiński Garden (Ogród Krasińskich), Łazienki Park, and since May 2026 Park Sowińskiego and Lasek na Kole. Follow the no-entry signs there, the city’s page says.
- 12 km/h: Krakowskie Przedmieście and Nowy Świat when they’re pedestrianised, the pedestrian part of Chmielna, the Vistula boulevards where there’s no separate cycle path, and since May 2026 Złota, Zgoda, Bracka, Plac Centralny and the pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Vistula.
In September 2026 the mayor said more places had been added, unnamed (Notes from Poland): check the app before you set off.
E-scooter parking in Warsaw and what bad parking costs
By law you may leave an e-scooter on the pavement in a place marked for it or, if there’s none, at the edge farthest from the road, parallel to it, with at least 1.5 m left clear for pedestrians.
The city has stickered about 12,500 racks at 2,900 places for e-scooters, Veturilo city-bike stations included, and there are 133 parking zones (strefy postoju) in Śródmieście, Żoliborz, Wola and Bielany. Under the May 2026 agreement you can’t end a ride on a bridge, in a tunnel, in a home zone (strefa zamieszkania), on a street whose pavement is too narrow to park on legally, or in a park where scooters are banned.
A scooter left in the way can be towed at its owner’s cost: in 2026, PLN 179 plus PLN 35 a day in the pound (city council resolution of 18 September 2025). For a rental that’s the company, and Bolt’s and Dott’s terms let them pass it on to you.
Bolt’s terms for Poland (from 8 May 2026) add up to PLN 460 for leaving a scooter outside an allowed place and PLN 30 for breaking its parking rules or skipping the end photo, and bar parking on the road, on a cycle path or blocking a stop. In September 2026 the mayor said joint patrols of the municipal police and ZDM had towed more than 140 scooters in a few days (Notes from Poland, 17 September 2026).
E-scooter rules in Poland: age, helmets, alcohol and fines
| Rule | What applies | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 13 or over since 3 March 2026 (10 before); under 13 only in a home zone, with an adult | – |
| Under 18 | Carry a bicycle card (karta rowerowa) or an AM, A1, B1, B or T licence | – |
| Helmet | Required under 16 since 3 June 2026 | Up to PLN 100, for the parent or carer |
| Cycle path | Use it where there is one | PLN 100 |
| Pavement | Only beside a road over 30 km/h with no cycle path or lane | PLN 200 |
| On the pavement | Walking pace, give way, don’t obstruct | PLN 300 each |
| Riding | One rider; no animal, load or towing; not side by side on the road; a hand on the handlebar | PLN 50 for side by side or no hands |
| Phone | Don’t hold it while riding | PLN 500 |
| Alcohol, 0.2‰ to 0.5‰ | “After drinking” (stan po użyciu alkoholu) | PLN 1,000 ticket; in court up to PLN 5,000 or arrest, and possibly a riding ban |
| Alcohol, over 0.5‰ | “Drunk” (stan nietrzeźwości) | PLN 2,500 ticket; in court up to PLN 5,000 or arrest, and possibly a riding ban |
Tickets follow the national fines tariff of 1 January 2022; the helmet fine and court penalties, the Code of Petty Offences. The city’s e-scooter page sums up the rules in Polish and lists each company’s contact for reporting a badly parked scooter.
Łazienki, the universities, the airport and the stations
| Place | Owner | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Łazienki Park | Łazienki Królewskie Museum (state) | “In the Gardens it is not allowed: to cycle, ride a scooter, rollerblade…” (Gardens Rules); also a city no-go zone |
| University of Warsaw; Warsaw University of Technology | The universities | No e-scooter rule found on their websites |
| Chopin Airport | Polskie Porty Lotnicze (PPL) | No e-scooter rule found on its travel page or in its airport rules (June 2025) |
| Stations run by PKP S.A. | PKP S.A. (state-owned) | No riding a scooter “on the platform, the way to the platform, in the hall, waiting room … underpass, on the footbridge … and near the track less than 3 metres from the outer rail” without its consent; no leaving rental scooters “except in the places meant for them” (§ 3, January 2025) |
At 15:17 on 25 October the map showed no Dott or Bolt scooters within 300 m of the airport terminal and about 230 within 300 m of Warszawa Centralna. SKM trains S2 and S3 and bus 175 link the airport with the city, its page says.
Taking an e-scooter on the metro, trams, buses and trains
The city council’s rules for ZTM’s metro, trams and buses let you carry an e-scooter as luggage if it doesn’t block the aisle, endanger other passengers or their property or block the driver’s view, the city’s 19115 page says; you may not use one on board. It doesn’t say the scooter must be folded. SKM’s suburban trains run under the same rules.
Koleje Mazowieckie’s regional trains carry “a folded scooter, including an electric one” free as hand luggage, but not on replacement buses or the Modlin station–Modlin Airport bus (§ 17 of its rules, in force since 1 June 2026).
Winter, hours and Bolt’s safety checks
- Winter and hours: we found no city curfew or winter break (October 2026). Bolt’s terms rule out riding in snow, hail, ice, sleet, freezing rain or thunderstorms.
- Bolt’s safety checks: new riders are capped at 15 km/h for their first five rides, and its Polish page says that at weekends you must pass a reaction-time test in the app to unlock (its English page says at peak hours). Its terms set a 95 kg maximum load.
Did you know? Warsaw e-scooter facts
- The word is a little story. Hulajnoga, Polish for scooter, came third (5.99%) in the University of Warsaw’s internet vote for Word of the Year 2019. The university explains it as hula(j)-, from East Slavic ‘to stroll, ride, make merry’, plus noga, the leg that pushes off.
- Warsaw went first, ZDM says: the first Polish city to sign agreements with scooter companies, in 2021, and the first to make them pay for parking zones, about PLN 1 million a year.
- A small share, many crashes. Scooters were 7.8% of the traffic counted on Warsaw’s cycle routes, ZDM said in May 2026, yet in 2025 their riders were in 66 accidents and caused 39; 73 people were hurt.
Questions
- Is Lime in Warsaw?
- Yes, one of the three companies in the city’s May 2026 agreement. Since 25 October 2026 its scooters have been on the Warsaw map: about 8,300 in the full scan of its zone finished at 18:12 that day. Its app shows the price and parking rules.
- Can I ride an e-scooter on the pavement in Warsaw?
- Only beside a road with a limit above 30 km/h where there’s no cycle path or lane, and then at close to walking pace, giving way to pedestrians. Otherwise it’s a PLN 200 fine, and PLN 300 for riding too fast there.
- Do you need a helmet on an e-scooter in Poland?
- Only if you’re under 16, since 3 June 2026; the parent or carer can be fined up to PLN 100. The law asks no helmet of riders aged 16 or over.
- Can I take an e-scooter on the Warsaw metro?
- Yes, your own, as luggage, if it doesn’t block the aisle, put other passengers at risk or block the driver’s view; you can’t ride it on board. Koleje Mazowieckie’s regional trains take it free if it’s folded.
- How old do you have to be to ride an e-scooter in Warsaw?
- 13 under Polish law since 3 March 2026, with a bicycle card or a licence until 18. But Bolt and Dott rent only to riders aged 18 or over.
- What happens if I leave a rental scooter in the wrong place?
- If it’s in the way, it can be towed for PLN 179 plus PLN 35 a day (2026), charged to the company, which can pass it on to you. Bolt can also charge up to PLN 460 for parking outside an allowed place.