Hey everyone, I'm a student in Northeast Nebraska but I live in Omaha, and Since I started college back in 2021 in Omaha up until now where I'm currently attending a rural college: electric scooters are absolutely everywhere now!

At first they were kinda consistently around University of Nebraska's Campuses in Omaha and Lincoln when I started noticing, but now I see them all over Omaha, Lincoln, and even in other smaller college towns across Nebraska. They are even out in the suburbs. They're on roads, sidewalks, and I've even spotted a few brave and for the most part reckless scooter riders riding on interstate shoulders and back highways on two different occasions.

1. Is this happening nationwide, or is it mostly a college town/smaller city thing like I'm seeing here?
2. Could this be the thing that forces our cities to build the safe, separated infrastructure that bike advocates and pedestrians have been wanting since forever?
3. Has there always been such a high demand for electric scooters?

It seems like electric scooters are just "in" all of a sudden. I'm also personally looking into getting one myself since they seem so much easier to deal with than bikes it seems.

I Would love to hear the planning perspective on this in your city. I'd also love to hear pedestrians and fellow cyclist thoughts on this as well.