I think that's a mischaracterization of the argument here, though. The point is that riders of these things are causing novel hazards to the people around them without any sort of mitigating factors like licensure or taxation. I know I feel pretty mad when someone zips by me on the sidewalk while I'm walking my (small) dog, and that anger goes mostly to the scooter company that is enabling an idiot. If, in the end, this is a stepping stone to lower pollution, great, but that doesn't mean there aren't any problems with it because it is the lesser of two evils. This is all to say that I, a real genuine person, am not upset with the Advent of scooters because they are competing with cars; it's for completely different reasons.