Denver scooters belong in bike lanes or streets, not sidewalks

Shared scooters look small enough to feel like an exception, but on a Denver street they follow street rules. Bike lanes and travel lanes are where they belong, and sidewalk riding is flatly illegal. Sidewalks are reserved for people walking and for people using wheelchairs, and a scooter does not get to share that space.

The rest of the rules read like the rules for any rider on the road: obey traffic lights and signs, ride with the flow of traffic rather than against it, and when the trip ends, leave ramps and sidewalks clear instead of dropping the scooter wherever it lands.

The reason these rules bite hardest is geography. Scooter trips tend to begin and end in the most crowded spots in town: downtown blocks, college campuses, transit stops, restaurant rows, and event districts. A two-minute ride through any of those can put a fast-moving wheel right where someone is walking, pushing a stroller, rolling a wheelchair, or stepping out of a doorway.

So before you push off, find the bike lane or pick the street route that fits. And at the curb, set the scooter upright and well out of the pedestrian path, so your finished ride does not turn into the next person’s obstacle. Denver’s micromobility program page is the spot to confirm the current rules and any neighborhood limits.