...they just have safe paths to ride on, and those paths get maintained. (So: not a painted bike lane that all the snow gets shoveled into.)
Not to mention in New York, there's already significant risks that come with biking/scootering. You always always have to share the road for at least some part of the trip and are constantly at risk of car doors, pedestrians and ironically, really fast e-bikes. I know that during the summer the benefits outweigh the risks, at least during pandemic. During the winter with ice and snow? Hell no.
The thing is, culture influences infrastructure, but the reverse is also true. Bikes in the Netherlands are a way of life partly because it's very safe to bike to your destination there! You don't need Dutch culture to get to that point, look at Vancouver: https://youtu.be/N9JHfFutvik
You're right that at the moment, bikes in the US are mostly considered to be recreational, and as a result they're not treated seriously as transportation. But I think people will get to where they're going however is most convenient, and as a result we can get more people cycling by making it more convenient.
(You can count me as one of those people; I have little interest in cycling for recreation, but I would absolutely bike around the city if it were safer. Given the limited reach of our public transit, it would honestly be the quickest way to get where I need to go most of the time.)
It's quite noticeable that the cities cited are all relatively warm places. I bet that as scooters expand to colder areas, they'll have a harder time with adoption.
Edit: the article does acknowledge it!
> If nothing else, the day would prove conclusively that scootering is not the best mode of travel in the dead of a New York winter. You can’t put your hands in your pockets while driving or lean into the wind. In a lot of ways, walking that last mile works better, and it’s free.