Scooters blocking sidewalks? Sacramento billed tech companies $152,000 for fines
Sacramento parking enforcement officers sent $152,000 worth of tickets to tech companies last year over a scourge of contemporary urban life: scooters blocking sidewalks.
Data released by the California capital show that officers handed out more than 5,500 citations for the offense under city code in 2025. The fine is $27.50 per violation.
Gabby Miller, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Department of Public Works, said that no paper ticket is affixed to the scooters when officers discover them blocking paths of travel. An electronic citation is delivered to the usually monosyllabically named tech company behind the scooter rentals, such as Lime or Bird. Those companies, under city code, pass along fines to the individual riders.
Miller pointed out that the citations are tied not just to standard pedestrian access but also to access for people who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs or walkers. Disabled people may have additional difficulty navigating around a relatively heavy scooter abandoned on a sidewalk.
“The goal,” Miller said, “is to improve parking behavior and keep accessible routes clear for all users.”
The tech companies behind the scooters — or, in city parlance, “shared-rideable businesses” — are responsible for paying the fine within 30 days. According to Sacramento’s business administrative procedures document, “The operation of a shared-rideable business in the City of Sacramento is a privilege, not a right.”
Scooter services are also responsible for permit costs as well as various other fees to help offset their reliance on publicly-maintained space. In 2019, the first operator in the capital, Jump, expressed distaste that the City Council was considering such a requirement.
“The new fee structure decreases our appetite for growing the fleet in Sacramento and serving more communities,” a spokesperson for Jump told The Sacramento Bee. A spokesperson for Bird, which was not yet operating in the capital, also complained to The Bee about the proposed fees at the time. Lime scooters began renting scooters in the city in the summer of 2019.
In 2018, Jennifer Donlon Wyant, a transportation official with the city, told The Bee that the primary concern was that “we want to make sure the sidewalks are clear and curb ramps aren’t blocked” — and that the companies bringing in the scooters would help pay for appropriate places to park them.
