https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/09/boulder-colorado-electric-scooters-bike-lane-rules-mobility/598036/

Mostly ageeable observations imho....

I don't like scooters, not because of their motorized propulsion, but because they're very unstable and dangerous at speeds above a walking pace, due to their extremely small wheels and very short wheelbase. They're simply not very good vehicles.

Very anecdotal, but every single time I've been around the scooters where it's an area they're frequently seen.........I've seen an "incident". Maybe not an injury or property damage, but some kind of "oops".

They frequently can't navigate curbs, drains, bumps like a bicycle can. So they wind up stumbling and running/falling off in those situations instead of first stopping and walking.

This is why I'm more for getting more bike and e-bike dock stations and infrastructure (FWIW, screw dockless, due to irresponsible users). A bicycle is a FAR superior transport to the scooter and "one wheel" trend when it comes to traversing obstacles, greater speed, better ability to take hills, safety, etc.......

Yes, me, I did say e-bike. I know that's weird for me to say, but there it is.

That was my experience as well. Very twitchy at the speed you'd like to go. A scooter with bigger wheels - say 16 would be much better, but not as compact of course.

If you've ever been to crowded European cities, you may think differently. Thousands of scooters, weaving in and out of heavy traffic in virtually any weather. As someone who owns a scooter (with small wheels), I understand your statement about them being twitchy, but that is also what makes them highly maneuverable in tight situations.

Boulder is definitely not "bucking the e-craze." They may be proceeding slowly with commercial scooter sharing, but scooters and e-bikes are everywhere.

I live in a city where e-scooters are only allowed on foot paths or dedicated bike paths.
I've been commuting to work on bike paths for the last 6 months and there are plenty of e-scooters on them each day (speed limit is 25 Km/h)

I am yet to see any incidents or even close calls, usually they go on their way and at 25 Km/h they travel at similar speeds to most commuter bikes, posing no issues.

I must say that these are scooters that are owned by the rider, not the share scooters.
Share scooters that are present in the inner-city foot paths are usually ridden by cow-boys without helmet.