
Photo courtesy of 9to5google.com
Earlier this month, Northern California-based Internet juggernaut Google introduced two new complimentary shuttles at the Caltrain station in Mountain View, California to transport employees to its suburban headquarters each day.
The Morning View Community Shuttle is a free public shuttle that is electric-powered, wheelchair accessible, and equipped with bike racks and Wi-Fi connectivity. The blue and white shuttles make a total of 30 stops and travel past the library, shopping malls, senior and teen community centers, parks, residential neighborhoods, the Caltrain and VTA station and the city’s downtown district on Castro Street, according to a story in the Contra Costa Times.
Google, who launched the two-year pilot program as a way to “sustain its do-gooder image amid rising anxiety over the Bay Area’s real estate prices and economic inequality,” has made no mention of what the service costs the company. According to city records, Google employs more than 11,000 people in Mountain View but only 3,000 of them live there. More than 6,000 others arrive each morning on a corporate fleet of about 140 luxury buses that transport workers from San Francisco, the East Bay and other parts of the Bay Area.
In addition to the free Google shuttle, the internet giant also launched a second free shuttle to “get commuters out of their cars on their way to tech campuses in the North Bayshore District.” The cost of the MVGo buses will be shared by six companies including LinkedIn, Intuit, and Samsung, and Google.
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