e-scooters debate – From Fresno State’s full ban starting this fall to UCLA’s tougher scooter rules and a patchwork of policies across California, universities are turning micromobility into a safety fight—students split between convenience and fear.
For months, Fresno State has watched students move across campus on electric scooters, skateboards and other motorized “e-vehicles.” Now the university says the situation has tipped. Starting this fall, Fresno State will enforce a complete ban on electric scooters on campus.
At UCLA, the mood is different but the pressure is unmistakable. Campus police have ramped up stops and citations over the last year, issuing more than 100 citations to students for speeding or riding e-scooters unsafely from September through November, according to the Daily Bruin.
The debate unfolding across California colleges and universities isn’t just about traffic. It’s about whether a tool students rely on for speed and convenience has become too dangerous to tolerate—and what universities owe the people riding them. walking near them. and trying to get through campus every day.
Fresno State draws a hard line
Selene Garcia, a third-year business administration student at Fresno State, said she wanted to join in after seeing many students use e-scooters to navigate the commuter campus. She said she never injured anyone while riding her scooter, but she also acknowledged aggressive behavior by some riders.
“I can’t control the ones that don’t follow the rules and are reckless, but if [a ban] is going to control accidents, then it needs to happen,” Garcia said. “I am sad I won’t be able to use my electric scooter, but we have to respect the university.”
Fresno State’s approach is detailed and enforcement-heavy. Matt Hawkins. Fresno State’s vice president of administration and chief financial officer. said in an April 24 email that students who use e-vehicles on campus will be in violation of the university’s student code of conduct. Any vehicle left unattended will be considered abandoned and may be impounded and transferred to the lost and found. he said.
The university said it first allowed electric scooters in 2018 and installed scooter parking in 2022. The policy, Fresno State said, will apply to all students, employees and visitors. Devices used for people with mobility disabilities and state vehicles will be exempt.
Hawkins said Fresno State analyzed campus safety data, incident reports and actions taken by other California colleges and universities in making its decision.
In an emailed statement to EdSource, a university spokesperson said students will not have to pay a fee to retrieve their motorized vehicle from the lost and found, but repeated offenders could face punishment.
“While citations will not be issued to individuals [for riding scooters], students who repeatedly violate the policy may be referred to student conduct,” the Fresno State spokesperson said.
For students who have been hurt—or almost hurt—the ban can’t arrive soon enough. Marina Soares, a third-year broadcast journalism student, said she initially didn’t mind other students riding around on e-vehicles. That changed after she said she was hit by a student who was going too fast on an e-scooter in a no-wheels zone on campus.
“Soares said. “Too many riders use the excuse of students not paying attention [as] to why they’re getting hit, but we never blame pedestrians for getting hit by a car,” Soares said. “Why is it not the same for those riding a scooter?”
UCLA tightens rules, students feel the consequences
UCLA’s approach is not a full ban, but campus life is already changing. E-scooters are still allowed at UCLA, though campus police have begun to issue more citations for unsafe riding.
Macey Matias, a second-year psychobiology student at UCLA, said she was accelerating on a Bird electric scooter—rental vehicle—at around 15 miles per hour on campus when she made a sharp turn and fell. She said she had ridden a scooter once a week before the incident.
Matias said she sought urgent care at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center the next day and left with a sling on her left arm. She said she rode electric scooters for enjoyment, but she stopped and deleted the Bird app after being injured.
She believes students who use scooters should prioritize personal safety, including wearing protective gear.
“People have scooters just to get from point A to point B faster,” she said. “But if it’s at the expense of your safety, then what’s the point?”
Not everyone sees scooters as a threat to campus culture. Kayla Chung, a freshman on UCLA’s Division I women’s tennis team, said her electric scooter has saved her time. Chung said almost all of the UCLA athletes she knows use an e-scooter every day.
“Whether it’s going to classes, going to run errands in Westwood, or back and forth between the tennis courts and my dorm, it’s been a huge help,” said Chung, a first-year economics and psychology student.
Chung said that if UCLA were to ban e-scooters, it would be harder to keep up with her schedule because she would have to plan for the slower pace of walking.
“I personally make an effort to ride cautiously at all times,” Chung said. “I trust myself to ride responsibly, and I hope that other riders approach scooter use with the same level of caution.”
A UCLA Transportation spokesperson said in an email that the university does not anticipate a ban on electric personal devices in the foreseeable future, adding that motorized vehicles are permitted if used safely.
“These devices are an important transportation option for many Bruins, particularly students traveling short distances across and around campus,” the spokesperson said.
Even where rules exist, students say enforcement is uneven
Across California, campuses are not speaking with one voice. At UC Irvine, motorized scooters and bikes are banned on campus, and the university police department is responsible for enforcing the ban.
Kylie Jones, a second-year biology student, said some students flout the rules because enforcement is inconsistent. Jones recalled a recent close call with an e-scooter rider that left her fuming because the rider did not apologize.
“There is either a large majority of people who are not following the rules and being unsafe, or a loud minority who ruin it for anyone else and are constantly being unsafe,” Jones said.
Mary Froberg. another UCI student who rides a mountain bike to school every day. said she and many others rely on alternatives to driving. such as e-scooters. to get to campus. Froberg said UCI’s campus infrastructure does not make it easy for students who ride electric and manual vehicles alike to maintain traffic safety on campus.
Froberg said she expects improvements to infrastructure—such as protected bike lanes—to reduce conflict and eliminate the need for a ban.
“E-scooters and e-bikes are a pretty ideal mode of transit for a lot of people,” she said. “They don’t emit greenhouse gases, assuming you charge them using clean energy.”
At Sacramento State, Eden Kirsch, a manual bicycle rider, said they have not seen signs on campus that clearly indicate speed limits for scooters and bikes. Kirsch said they also have not seen campus police enforce speeding rules.
Sacramento State prohibits the use of motorized bikes and scooters in pedestrian lanes, wearing earbuds while riding, riding with passengers and operating “in a manner determined to be reckless.”
Kirsch said they don’t personally use an e-bike, but they believe banning them is unrealistic and that the school could monitor safety more effectively in a different way, like adding radar speed signs around campus.
“Some people are commuting from further [away] or have mobility issues,” Kirsch said. “I feel like just enforcing safety would be the thing to do.”
Some campuses are moving toward lanes rather than prohibitions
Other schools are not doubling down on bans at all. At Cal State Dominguez Hills, administrators are reviewing the on-campus micromobility policy to usher in electric scooters and bikes, along with the addition of riding lanes around campus.
Lilly McKibbin, a university spokesperson, said officials decided to add bike lanes after 75% of campus community members responded positively to the idea in a fall 2024 transportation survey.
Moises Gomez, a fourth-year kinesiology student at CSUDH, said he is open to electric scooters around campus. He expects the number of scooters on campus will increase because of the new official policy.
“I don’t really have an issue with the e-scooters. unless I get hit by one. because sometimes I feel like without warning they will be within inches of you. just darting past you. ” Gomez said. “I don’t really like when they’re on the walkway. It feels like an inconvenience to both of us. because they are trying to get to where they are going. and I’m just trying not to watch my back.”.
Even as Fresno State prepares a full ban and UCLA continues to issue citations. California campuses are converging on the same reality: micromobility may solve the problem of moving quickly across large campuses. but students and universities keep colliding over speed. attention. and who bears the risk.
What’s clear now is that the argument isn’t theoretical anymore. It’s written into the rules students are being asked to follow, the citations police are issuing, and the moments when a turn at speed can become urgent care instead of a routine trip across campus.
Members of the EdSource California Student Journalism Corp include Natalia Mochernak. a second-year student at UCLA majoring in communication and Spanish; Amanda Velasco. a second-year public affairs student at UCLA; Mariam Farag. a third-year political science and literary journalism major at UC Irvine; Ethan Beck. a third-year transfer student at Fresno State majoring in mass communications and journalism; Sapphire Perez. a senior at CSU Dominguez Hills; Olivia Muñoz. a second-year student at Los Angeles Pierce College studying journalism and film; and Amelia Angeles. a fourth-year literary journalism major at UC Irvine.
e-scooters micromobility campus safety Fresno State UCLA UC Irvine Sacramento State Cal State Dominguez Hills student conduct campus police Bird scooters