Veo Mobility, a bike and scooter rental company, has been renting bicycles and scooters in Berkeley since 2022. But many Berkeley residents may not be aware of its five-year-old Veo Access program, which allows low-income people to rent its scooters for short rides for free. 

Justin Holmes, the company’s vice president of revenue, says the company has not seen the number of rides rise over the last year, but “both distance and duration of Access rides are up more than 10% year over year.” 

Even those who don’t qualify for Veo Access may find the rentals an affordable transit option. Regular rentals involve a $1 fee to unlock an Astro scooter or Cosmo bike and cost $0.43 per minute after that.

Students on financial aid, welfare recipients, AARP members, and active-duty military personnel or veterans are eligible to apply to the Veo Access program, which is 50% off all trip costs, including the $1 unlock fee for regular riders.

Holmes said half of all Veo’s rides come through the Access program. “Access users take twice as many rides as standard fare riders, on average,” he said.

He said once people apply with the required documentation, they can be approved in as little as a half hour. 

According to Veo, the average scooter ride in its East Bay service area, which also includes Albany, Oakland, and Emeryville, is about 1.5 miles. 

East Bay residents who’ve used Veo Access told us it’s made a difference in how they get around — and in their wallets. 

A 2025 Veo user survey found that 59% of respondents made less than $50,000 a year. Half of respondents described Veo as an “affordable way to get around.” The report found that 47% of people who rode a Veo scooter used it either to get home or to work or school. Nearly half of those surveyed, or 46%, were between 18 and 24 years of age, and another quarter of respondents were between 25 and 34 years old. 

The report highlighted the need for bike infrastructure in cities with Veo devices. Of the people who end up riding a Veo bike or scooter on the sidewalk, which is illegal in Berkeley, half of respondents said they did it because it felt “unsafe or uncomfortable” to ride on the street and 47% because “there is no bike lane available.”

Apply for Veo Access. 

Other rental services in Berkeley have also sought to make it easier for low-income people to travel.

Lime, which rents scooters in Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville in the East Bay, also has its own Access program, which the company says has served 17 million trips by 166,000 riders since service launched in San Francisco in 2019. On its site, the company said it is working toward the goal of “breaking down barriers to sustainable transportation to more communities.”

Eligibility for Lime’s program is similar to Veo’s, including access for anyone who receives Medicaid, SNAP, Social Security Supplemental Income or subsidized housing. 

Julia Stevens, a Lime spokesperson, told us that its Access program gives low-income members a 50% discount on regular rates — so $0.23 per minute versus $0.46 per minute for other riders — and half off the $1 unlock fee as well.

Stevens said Lime also operates a service for people with disabilities called the Lime Assist program. For those enrolled, the company provides a free seated mobility scooter for 24 hours at a time. The company quickly processes applications to the program within a couple of days, she said. 

Apply for Lime Access.

Many Berkeley residents who aren’t up for hopping on a bike or scooter also have options for lower-priced rides on buses or trains.

BART offers discounted rides to seniors and youth, at 62.5% and 50% off of regular fares, respectively, and 50% off through the Clipper START program for income-qualified people who earn up to double the federal poverty level. These cards work with BART’s transfer discount program where, if you pay using a Clipper card, you receive a $2.85 discount on a transfer from another Clipper-enabled transit option, such as an AC Transit bus, within a two-hour window. 

AC Transit also offers discounted bus rides to youth, seniors, and low-income people. Seniors and young people are eligible for 50% off single rides or day passes; monthly passes for both are $41.50, less than half the $90 regular price. The transit agency also offers a free student bus pass to Berkeley public school students in sixth through 12th grade whose families meet the free or reduced-priced meal income eligibility guidelines. 

Apply for a Clipper START card, the low-income discount card for BART and AC Transit.
Apply for a senior or youth Clipper card.
Apply for an AC Transit student transit pass.

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Jose Fermoso reports on traffic and road safety for our sister site The Oaklandside. More by Jose Fermoso