Carrying your wheel

What the law says

Two statutes prohibit carrying a class of cargo, not a device. Penal Code § 640(d)(2) bans “Carrying an explosive, acid, or flammable liquid in a public transit facility or vehicle”. Public Utilities Code § 99580(b)(7) lists “Carrying an explosive or acid, flammable liquid, or toxic or hazardous material in a system facility or vehicle” — and § 99580 is not a rule of its own: subdivision (a) makes it a list of acts a transit agency may penalise by ordinance, capped at $125. Everything else in state law is about riding: Penal Code § 640(b)(5) reaches riding a motorized scooter or similar device in a station, and § 99580(b)(10) reaches skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding and roller blading. Neither list names a one-wheeled device.

The Legislature knew how to protect bringing a wheeled vehicle aboard. § 99580(b)(10)’s exception protects “transporting a bicycle aboard a system vehicle”, and § 99170(a)(8) hands bicycle carriage to each transit district’s own ordinance. It wrote that protection for one device, by name.

The two readings

Whether a large lithium-ion pack is “toxic or hazardous material” under § 99580(b)(7). One reading: the phrase sits beside explosives, acid and flammable liquid, and a sealed battery inside a machine is none of those. The other: the words set no size floor and a large pack is a hazardous article in other regimes. The state never applies the phrase to a battery; an agency could, by ordinance.

What PEVRA cannot tell you

PEVRA has read Penal Code § 640 in full and Public Utilities Code §§ 99170(a) and 99580(b) in full and verified no California statute that prohibits carrying a switched-off wheel; that perimeter is three sections and no more. PEVRA has found no California case or opinion on the words, and has read the conduct rules of BART, Muni, LA Metro, Caltrain, VTA and AC Transit: none names a battery, lithium, a hoverboard or a one-wheeled device, and none reads “hazardous material” onto a battery. What PEVRA cannot tell you is whether an officer would stretch BART’s reasoning — that a motorized scooter is a “vehicle” under the Vehicle Code and so may not come aboard — onto a wheel; the page never does. Check your operator before you carry.

Your carrier

The six California agencies, read September 13, 2026. BART: motorized scooters are prohibited inside stations and trains “unless they can be folded and carried”, and its code of conduct bars flammable liquid and combustible material “such as gasoline, kerosene or propane”. Muni: folding bikes and scooters, powered or not, “Must be carried in folded position on board vehicles, around stations and on platforms.” LA Metro: wheeled riding devices “may not be ridden in Metro facilities or vehicles” and may be carried or walked; its code copies the Penal Code’s hazardous line. Caltrain: bikes and scooters ride in the bike cars and “must not be ridden in station buildings, on platforms or ramps.” VTA: “No flammable materials allowed”, and no riding bikes or skateboards on its property. AC Transit: folding scooters allowed, non-collapsible powered scooters not. None names a wheel.

Amtrak bans it by name: “Hoverboards, OneWheel, Unicycle and self-balancing scooters are prohibited on Amtrak property.” The page does not say what counts as its property; the station you use may belong to a city or a transit agency, and PEVRA has not verified which stations Amtrak treats as its own. Pacific Surfliner’s published rule is a weight and box-size test for an electric bicycle and names no wheel. Gold Runner names “hover boards” and “similar items” and sends the reader to Amtrak’s list. All three are a carrier’s own policy, not law.

Where PEVRA stands

PEVRA’s position is that a switched-off wheel is luggage, and that a carrier’s rule should say what it means in words a rider can find.

What the law says

Penal Code § 640, the state’s transit-conduct law, bans explosives, acid and flammable liquids and names no battery, charger or socket. Public Utilities Code § 99170(a) is a list of eight prohibited acts and names none either; § 99580(b) likewise, though its carrying line reaches “toxic or hazardous material”, which is the carriage row’s open question. That is a silence, which is the weakest kind of finding: it says nobody has written a rule, not that a rule could never apply.

What PEVRA cannot tell you

Anything beyond a transit facility or vehicle, which is all these sections reach. And what your operator says: California leaves transit conduct to the individual operators, and PEVRA has still not read BART’s, Muni’s, Caltrain’s or any ferry’s rules.

Your carrier

Amtrak goes further than a charging rule. Its baggage page says “Hoverboards, OneWheel, Unicycle and self-balancing scooters are prohibited on Amtrak property.” The charging rule Amtrak writes for the e-bikes and scooters it does accept never reaches a wheel, because the wheel is not allowed aboard at all.

Where PEVRA stands

PEVRA’s position is that a rule about charging should be a rule about charging, written by the carrier and posted where a rider boards.

What the law says

Two statutes prohibit carrying a class of cargo, not a device. Penal Code § 640(d)(2) bans “Carrying an explosive, acid, or flammable liquid in a public transit facility or vehicle”. Public Utilities Code § 99580(b)(7) lists “Carrying an explosive or acid, flammable liquid, or toxic or hazardous material in a system facility or vehicle” — and § 99580 is not a rule of its own: subdivision (a) makes it a list of acts a transit agency may penalise by ordinance, capped at $125. Everything else in state law is about riding: Penal Code § 640(b)(5) reaches riding a motorized scooter or similar device in a station, and § 99580(b)(10) reaches skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding and roller blading. Neither list names a one-wheeled device.

The Legislature knew how to protect bringing a wheeled vehicle aboard. § 99580(b)(10)’s exception protects “transporting a bicycle aboard a system vehicle”, and § 99170(a)(8) hands bicycle carriage to each transit district’s own ordinance. It wrote that protection for one device, by name.

The two readings

Whether a large lithium-ion pack is “toxic or hazardous material” under § 99580(b)(7). One reading: the phrase sits beside explosives, acid and flammable liquid, and a sealed battery inside a machine is none of those. The other: the words set no size floor and a large pack is a hazardous article in other regimes. The state never applies the phrase to a battery; an agency could, by ordinance.

What PEVRA cannot tell you

PEVRA has read Penal Code § 640 in full and Public Utilities Code §§ 99170(a) and 99580(b) in full and verified no California statute that prohibits carrying a switched-off wheel; that perimeter is three sections and no more. PEVRA has found no California case or opinion on the words, and has read the conduct rules of BART, Muni, LA Metro, Caltrain, VTA and AC Transit: none names a battery, lithium, a hoverboard or a one-wheeled device, and none reads “hazardous material” onto a battery. What PEVRA cannot tell you is whether an officer would stretch BART’s reasoning — that a motorized scooter is a “vehicle” under the Vehicle Code and so may not come aboard — onto a wheel; the page never does. Check your operator before you carry.

Your carrier

The six California agencies, read September 13, 2026. BART: motorized scooters are prohibited inside stations and trains “unless they can be folded and carried”, and its code of conduct bars flammable liquid and combustible material “such as gasoline, kerosene or propane”. Muni: folding bikes and scooters, powered or not, “Must be carried in folded position on board vehicles, around stations and on platforms.” LA Metro: wheeled riding devices “may not be ridden in Metro facilities or vehicles” and may be carried or walked; its code copies the Penal Code’s hazardous line. Caltrain: bikes and scooters ride in the bike cars and “must not be ridden in station buildings, on platforms or ramps.” VTA: “No flammable materials allowed”, and no riding bikes or skateboards on its property. AC Transit: folding scooters allowed, non-collapsible powered scooters not. None names a wheel.

Amtrak bans it by name: “Hoverboards, OneWheel, Unicycle and self-balancing scooters are prohibited on Amtrak property.” The page does not say what counts as its property; the station you use may belong to a city or a transit agency, and PEVRA has not verified which stations Amtrak treats as its own. Pacific Surfliner’s published rule is a weight and box-size test for an electric bicycle and names no wheel. Gold Runner names “hover boards” and “similar items” and sends the reader to Amtrak’s list. All three are a carrier’s own policy, not law.

Where PEVRA stands

PEVRA’s position is that a switched-off wheel is luggage, and that a carrier’s rule should say what it means in words a rider can find.

What the law says

Penal Code § 640, the state’s transit-conduct law, bans explosives, acid and flammable liquids and names no battery, charger or socket. Public Utilities Code § 99170(a) is a list of eight prohibited acts and names none either; § 99580(b) likewise, though its carrying line reaches “toxic or hazardous material”, which is the carriage row’s open question. That is a silence, which is the weakest kind of finding: it says nobody has written a rule, not that a rule could never apply.

What PEVRA cannot tell you

Anything beyond a transit facility or vehicle, which is all these sections reach. And what your operator says: California leaves transit conduct to the individual operators, and PEVRA has still not read BART’s, Muni’s, Caltrain’s or any ferry’s rules.

Your carrier

Amtrak goes further than a charging rule. Its baggage page says “Hoverboards, OneWheel, Unicycle and self-balancing scooters are prohibited on Amtrak property.” The charging rule Amtrak writes for the e-bikes and scooters it does accept never reaches a wheel, because the wheel is not allowed aboard at all.

Where PEVRA stands

PEVRA’s position is that a rule about charging should be a rule about charging, written by the carrier and posted where a rider boards.