Are Electric Scooters Legal in Charlotte?

Charlotte’s Shared Mobility Program keeps Bird and Lime on six-month permits, each capped at 900 scooters and 150 e-bikes with automatic 15 mph governors and required driver’s licenses for riders 18 or older. Operating hours run 5:00 a.m.–1:30 a.m., and the city’s Chapter 14 ordinance allows sidewalk riding everywhere except the Uptown rectangle bounded by Church Street, Brooklyn Village Avenue, College Street, and 7th Street, where riders must stay in the roadway and follow all traffic laws. City rules reinforce North Carolina’s helmet requirement for anyone under 16, forbid passengers, and demand courteous riding around pedestrians. When parking, riders must leave at least four feet of clear sidewalk, stay off curb ramps, bus stops, dining zones, driveways, or private property, and use bike racks or marked corrals whenever possible; under the permit, operators have two hours to re-park any reported obstruction, and the city is steadily adding painted corrals to make compliance easier.