The use of electric scooters and bikes in College Park and University Park ballooned by 62% between fall 2024 and fall 2025, leading the company that owns the vehicles to crack down on where riders may park them.
Since October, riders who park their rented e-scooters and e-bikes outside of designated parking areas, such as bike racks, bus stops and painted areas identified on the Veo Micromobility app, are charged for an extra 20 minutes of use after they park—about $4 to $5.
College Park City Councilmember Alan Hew (District 1) complained at a Nov. 18 council meeting about a rider who left a Veo e-scooter in the middle of a sidewalk, just a few feet away from a designated parking site.
“This is just almost malicious,” Hew said.
Veo representatives at the meeting said the company tightened restrictions on how customers park both on and off campus in response to complaints from residents and city staff about e-scooters left on sidewalks and causing problems for pedestrians.
“We have seen a large ridership growth … something that is, from Veo’s perspective, obviously very good,” Alex Posorske, Veo’s policy and partnerships manager for the East Coast, said at the meeting. “But it does of course come with challenges as well as opportunities.”
Veo launched in College Park in 2019, and the city renewed its contract in June. The contract included an increase in Veo’s fleet of e-scooters and e-bikes from 400 to 650 vehicles.
The increase in Veo ridership came after UMD banned students who live on campus from using their own e-scooters and other electric micromobility devices. The August policy cited safety concerns after an e-scooter’s lithium-ion battery caused a fire in a dorm on campus in March 2024.
Posorske said Veo also fines customers up to $60 for parking outside of designated areas and suspends users from the app after four violations.
At the meeting, Councilmember Ray Ranker (District 3) said he was disappointed with Veo’s past response to complaints from city staff about misparked scooters.
“I’m glad you’ve been working to address this issue, and I hope we can continue on that path,” Ranker said.
Despite the parking issues, Mayor Fazlul Kabir said he is glad to have Veo servicing College Park.
“We are very happy that we have this micromobility system in College Park because this is in line with our strategic sustainability goal,” Kabir said. “Every time someone rides a Veo scooter, that person is not using the car, right? So we’re taking out the cars from the street.”