Free Beach Wheelchairs Are Coming to Myrtle Beach — What Visitors Need to Know

There is something about the Grand Strand that draws people back season after season — the way the light sits flat and gold on the water in the early morning, the pull of the tide, the particular quiet of a beach before the crowds arrive. For most visitors, getting to that water is as simple as kicking off their shoes and walking across the sand. For a significant portion of the people who love this coastline just as much, it has never been that easy. Until now, it was barely possible at all — at least not in Myrtle Beach.

After years of advocacy, volunteer programs running on borrowed time, and a pointed conversation at City Hall about what it really means to welcome everyone to the beach, Myrtle Beach is finally moving toward a formal, city-funded beach wheelchair program. In late May 2026, City Council approved the first reading of a $125,000 budget amendment to fund the purchase of specialized beach wheelchairs, automated storage lockers, and the infrastructure to make them available at no charge to visitors and residents who need them.

It is not a small thing. For the people who moved to the Grand Strand specifically to be near the ocean, or who have been planning a beach vacation around the question of whether they will actually be able to reach the water, this program represents something more than a policy change. It is the difference between looking at the ocean and being in it.

Here is everything you need to know about how the program will work, where the chairs will be, and what the broader landscape of accessible beach access looks like across the Grand Strand right now.

The Gap That Took Too Long to Close

For a stretch of coastline as popular and well-resourced as the Grand Strand, the absence of a city-funded beach wheelchair program in Myrtle Beach stood out in uncomfortable ways. From Cherry Grove at the northern tip of the Strand all the way south to Pawleys Island, Myrtle Beach had been the only municipality that did not provide the service. Neighboring communities — some of them far smaller in budget and population — had found ways to make it work. Myrtle Beach had not.

The backstory is a familiar one in local government. The city once offered beach wheelchairs through its own staff, but discontinued the service during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing staffing shortages. The Adaptive Surf Project, a Grand Strand nonprofit dedicated to making the beach accessible for everyone, stepped in to keep things running on a volunteer basis. For several years, that arrangement held together through determination and goodwill. By 2026, the organization had run out of the resources needed to sustain it.

There had been an earlier attempt at a structural fix. The Adaptive Surf Project and the city reached an agreement in which Myrtle Beach would build storage boxes for beach wheelchairs at multiple access points. Only one box was ever built, and after COVID it sat unused. The current push is the second attempt to get something permanent in place — and the vote in late May suggests this time it may actually stick.

Beach Advisory Committee Chairman Steve Taylor acknowledged at a May committee meeting that the city had fallen short on this specific issue, while pointing out that Myrtle Beach has made substantial accessibility investments in other areas — 39 of its 143 public beach access points now feature recently constructed accessible ramps and parking. The wheelchair program was the visible gap, and after years of delay, the committee voted unanimously to recommend the city close it.

How the Program Will Work

The city is partnering with RentFun, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based outdoor equipment rental company with more than 200 locations nationwide, including existing operations on the Grand Strand. The company already manages Myrtle Beach’s kayak rental program at Thunderbolt Park, so the working relationship is established.

The system is designed to be fully self-service. Large automated metal lockers will be installed at each location. Each locker holds multiple beach wheelchairs — the wide-wheeled, low-pressure-tire chairs engineered specifically to roll across soft sand without sinking — and is operated through QR codes built into both the locker itself and the RentFun app. A visitor can reserve a chair, unlock the locker, take the equipment to the water’s edge, and return it when finished, all without requiring any city staff on-site. A credit card is held as a security deposit, but the chairs themselves are available at no charge.

The approved plan calls for four locker stations, with four wheelchairs at each, for a total fleet of 16 chairs. City staff and council members are still finalizing checkout windows — the current discussion centers on whether a four-hour or full 24-hour allowance makes more sense for the program’s first season. City officials also indicated that at least one council member has asked staff to explore ways to assist visitors who may need help using the chairs once they have them.

The Adaptive Surf Project has also pushed for a delivery component — a way for individuals with extreme mobility challenges to have a chair brought to them rather than requiring them to travel to a kiosk location. That option is not included in the current approved plan, but the conversation is ongoing and advocates intend to keep pressing for it.

Where the Chairs Will Be Located

All four proposed kiosk locations were selected because they already have handicap beach access parking and accessible walkovers — meaning visitors can get from their vehicle to the locker and from the locker to the water without encountering barriers that would defeat the purpose of the program. The four sites are:

The 15th Avenue South location carries particular significance. It is close to the Market Common neighborhood, where multiple residents with mobility challenges have spoken out during the public process — including Myra Boswell, the T4-T5 paraplegic resident who told the Beach Advisory Committee in May that she moved to the Grand Strand specifically for beach access and currently has to borrow a friend’s chair just to get to the water. The 15th Avenue location was identified by residents like Boswell as the most meaningful starting point for the program.

The People Who Made It Happen

Programs like this one do not move from conversation to City Council vote without someone applying sustained, patient pressure. In this case, that someone is Luke Sharp, director of the Adaptive Surf Project, who has spent years making the case to Myrtle Beach officials that a city capable of funding lifeguards, police, and other public safety services is capable of funding a modest fleet of beach wheelchairs.

Sharp has been clear that the program as approved is a meaningful step, but not the end of the road. His organization has offered to donate additional chairs and beach matting to the city if needed, and he has been explicit that delivery service for people with the most severe mobility limitations is the next goal on his list. For Sharp, the question of liability — which had been raised by some as a reason for the city to hold back — is not a serious obstacle. His position is straightforward: if a city can provide other public services, it can provide the means for a disabled person to get to the beach.

Residents like Boswell gave the issue a human face at the committee level. Her testimony — that the beach is healing, and that being denied access to it is a real and daily loss — was the kind of specific, personal account that tends to land differently than policy arguments. She is not alone. Across the Grand Strand, there are visitors and residents who have been waiting for Myrtle Beach to catch up with its neighbors, and who have been making alternate plans — driving to Myrtle Beach State Park, relying on volunteer organizations, or simply doing without — while the city worked through its process.

What North Myrtle Beach Already Offers

While the Myrtle Beach program works its way through a second budget reading and permitting, it is worth noting what is already in place just fifteen miles up the coast. North Myrtle Beach has long offered beach wheelchairs through its Beach Services department, and in May 2025 the city unveiled a new dedicated accessible beach access point at 46th Avenue South — complete with multiple beach wheelchairs available for borrowing, accessible ramps, and accessible parking.

For families or travelers who need reliable accessible beach access right now, North Myrtle Beach is the practical choice on the Grand Strand. The nine miles of coastline here span four distinct beach neighborhoods — Cherry Grove Beach, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, and Windy Hill — each with its own character and pace, and all of them quieter and more spacious than the stretch of sand directly in front of the Myrtle Beach hotel corridor.

North Myrtle Beach has also invested in accessible infrastructure beyond the water’s edge. Barefoot Landing — the entertainment and dining complex along the Intracoastal Waterway — features wheelchair-accessible boardwalks, shops, and restaurants. The Alabama Theatre and other major venues offer accessible seating. And Thomas Beach Vacations maintains a roster of oceanfront homes and oceanfront condos that put guests steps from the water — which matters enormously when navigating sand with a wheelchair is already part of the plan. For a deeper look at accessible options across the city, the Accessible North Myrtle Beach Adventures guide covers beach access points, adaptive water sports, and accessible attractions in detail.

What Comes Next

The $125,000 budget amendment that passed its first reading in late May still requires a second reading before it is finalized. Once approved, the city moves into permitting and procurement. City staff has estimated the program could be up and running within roughly two months of final approval — which puts a realistic launch window sometime in late summer 2026 if everything proceeds on schedule.

The 15th Avenue South location is expected to be the first kiosk to go live, as staff have already begun the groundwork for that site. Beach matting will be installed alongside the locker at that location, making it the most comprehensively accessible of the four proposed sites from day one.

For anyone planning a Myrtle Beach trip this summer with accessibility in mind, it is worth watching the second reading and keeping an eye on the city’s official communications for a launch announcement. In the meantime, North Myrtle Beach remains the most accessible stretch of the Grand Strand for visitors who need beach wheelchair access right now.

Accessible Beach Access: Myrtle Beach vs. North Myrtle Beach

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: Post and Courier Myrtle Beach; WBTW News13; WMBF News; WPDE ABC15. Information reflects publicly available reporting as of June 1, 2026.