These companies companies seems to have exploded in valuation, driven I guess by VC money. I wonder how much of the rider-growth fueling that is just people trying out an electric scooter for the first time.
I saw they have Lime in Madrid and a few other Spanish cities, and that was my impression for their usage here. For a 10 minute ride the cost is comparable to what you would pay for car-sharing scheme like Car2Go - but that's for a car where you can fit a passenger and shopping. It's also priced in USD here, which suggests it's not aimed at the local market.
If they had pricing similar to bicycle sharing schemes (X minutes free, then pay per minute + daily/yearly subscription fee) I could see them being a lot more popular with commuters, but as it is now, my impression is it's too expensive for the European market.
I’d say shared electric motorbikes (also present in Madrid) pose a more direct threat to scooters: they accompdatr 2 people, speedier, safer (comes with helmet), easily parkeable, not affected by traffic jams (but dependent on traffic lights - in strictness)
That's what I use it for. They're great for situations where I want to get somewhere that's 1-3 mi away and don't want to be responsible for the object I used for transportation once I get there (be it car, bike or scooter).