Non-electric scooters are a terrible mode of transport. Pretty obvious if you've ever used one (or a skateboard) but as soon as you hit any kind of gentle uphill slope they're more effort than just walking.
A bicycle is fine but you have to put in effort which is not always appealing and you can't take it into buildings (though on the other hand it's more reasonable to leave it locked up outside).
There's definitely a unique space that e-scooters occupy where they're better than every other option.
In the dotcom era I rode a Xootr kick scooter all over San Francisco. It was excellent, even on minor uphills. A lot lighter than an electric for carrying on BART. It was pretty great in that environment. (I still have it, but the place I live now is more conducive to bicycling.)
I used to LOVE my Razer scooter back in the 00's - rode it all over London, and you are quite right, even lighter. I used to skateboard 'commute' a lot in Australia too when I lived there - was a great way of getting around on the flats/down hill and easy/light to carry up hill. Too old to skate now (or too fearful of getting hurt again rather) and I really should try my son's scooter out more, but ease, smoothness and just 'go' of the electric scooter just has too much of a pull for me!
I also had an old 'lead acid batter electric scooter I used to ride in London a lot in 2004ish - was great fun and could carry me and my wife together to the pub and back on the canal paths - they weren't an issue back then as then the police only used to care about the petrol 'goped' scooters that we illegal - though you would see a few of them around London, in parks and on the roads.
Many I love alternative transport (while almost always owning a car too). I had a cyclemotor/autocycle - a road legal mountianbike with 35cc petrol engine - got stopped a couple of times by the police on that, but they were just interested in what it was as they'd never seen one before. Had something called a 'Daylight MOT' far simpler to pass but can only ride dawn to dusk.
Man you have me wanting to dig some of these out of the sheds and garages that they are buried in!
Op here. I am a cyclist too, but cycling means I have to get the bike out the shed, cycle there (which admittedly is fast) then lock it up somewhere (not always available outside the shop) , then cycle home with my shopping bag.
On the scooter I go the supermarket with the scooter, do my shop and it is so much easier to scoot home with a bag over the handlebar than it is on a bike.
I love cycling and I cycle a lot for pleasure, but for errands the scooter is just perfect, no effort, easy to take in the house or pub, or train, or shopping. After a day of work I often just want easy.
Before I had the scooter I did likely cycle more, but I also used the car much more.
As a datapoint, I got an adult kick scooter in NYC years ago to use for transportation. It worked as an alternative to walking around the neighborhood for distances up to a couple miles and the kids loved riding with me on it. But it didn't work for commuting, and anyone who considers skateboards and scooters in the same category as their electric counterparts has probably not attempted to commute with them.
As a worst-case example, take crossing the Queensboro Bridge which took about ~30 mins by foot, ~20 mins by kick scooter, and less than ~10 minutes by bike or electric scooter. On the surface that seems like a kick scooter fills a valid niche. However, on a sustained uphill a kick scooter is more tiring than walking and not substantially faster, so it's often simpler to just carry it. It is faster on the way down, but also stressful as you have to sit on the brakes the whole time to keep from going too fast on 200mm rubber wheels over cracked concrete. Saving ten minutes of walking just wasn't worth the extra stress and weight.
You can get kick scooters with inflatable tires and suspension but they're so low volume that it's not much more expensive to get a mass-produced electric scooter.
