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Google's Best Perk — Transport

Posted by kdawson on from the Wi-Fi-included dept.

Reverse Gear writes "The New York Times has an interesting article about how different kinds of fringe benefits are starting to count more in the fight for the best brains in Silicon Valley. The article mainly focuses on Google's high-tech shuttle-bus system, which is quite extensive, covering a majority of the San Fransisco Bay area. The article quotes a transportation expert opining that Google's may be the largest such private system anywhere. One-quarter of the headquarters employees are now using it. A Google software engineer said: 'They could either charge for the food or cut it altogether... If they cut the shuttle, it would be a disaster.'"

7 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. Why not Google Housing? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With the high costs and difficulty of real-estate, a Google Comune may be a good idea.

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    1. Re:Why not Google Housing? by eck011219 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Gotta be careful, though -- George Pullman did this for his railcar company here in the Chicago area in the mid- to late-1800's, and he overstepped his bounds. He ended up housing his employees in company-owned housing, paying them in company-honored chits, and basically taking people's freedoms away one at a time. I'm not suggesting that Google is doing this, but I must admit that it rings some bells. Separation from work is good, and housing owned by your company seems to put a lot of eggs in one basket. It's a one-stop shop -- get fired and evicted all in the same week!

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  2. Re:In saner parts of the world... by GregPK · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just think of the engineering discussions and the kinds of networking that would go on if they shared the transportation system. Intel employees could bounce ideas off of google ones creating a rather good synergy for building up servers, etc.. Really I don't know what company wouldn't want thier employees on that bus especially if google was a potential customer for them.

  3. Great News by Cocoshimmy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hopefully this means what the author is suggesting: That in the future a shuttle service will become an essential part of the benefits package offered by large employers. Imagine if other major employers such as Microsoft, Boeing, AMD and others implemented such programs in areas with otherwise high traffic like Seattle, Austin, and of course the SF bay area? It would reduce stress for everyone, alleviate traffic, reduce the demand and price for gas, reduce air pollution (and as a result health care costs), and make people realize that mass transit is a viable option for North America.

  4. At some point... by rindeee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...doesn't it become a better idea to simply move Googleplex to a new location that isn't overcrowded, overpriced, etc.? Perhaps (in all seriousness) Google could move the headquarters to a more rural location. Employees could afford to live in mansions? Could drive to work without rush hour, etc. COMMS shouldn't be an issue...just run some fiber. Shoot, Google owns half the dark fiber (exaggerating of course) in the country anyway. Anyway, just thinking out loud.

  5. Interesting Side Note: Neil's Son by dancingmad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As an interesting side note, the Michael Gaiman they quote is the son of author Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods, etc.). I read the article and was surprised, because Neil mentioned his son choosing Google over Apple a month or two back on his blog. Sure enough, visited his blog after reading it and it is indeed him.

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  6. It's the way shared transit should be by squarooticus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is the way shared transit should be: discriminatory.

    Part of the reason I hate public transit is the other people on the bus/train/plane with me: there are the ones who smell, the ones who talk to themselves, the ones who start ranting, the ones who panhandle, and the ones who won't fucking shut up and let me read.

    If you discriminate on the basis of employment, you are likely to eliminate most of these bad behaviors, maybe with the exception of the ones who talk to themselves. Oh, and maybe smelling, depending on how many engineers there are on the bus. :)

    In all seriousness, though, this makes the concept of shared transit palatable. I stopped taking the commuter rail after an incident in which a strung-out druggie was "escorted" off the train at the cost of over an hour. And you know what? Because it's public transit, that same person can get back on the train and cause problems the very next time she is freed from jail/rehab again.

    Forget how you've been brainwashed. Discrimination on some criteria is good.

    Finally, I should throw in a point about how this transit is entirely voluntary. There is no robbery (i.e., taxation) involved in paying for it. Google does it because they have determined that it is probably making them more profitable. If the experiment succeeds, other tech companies will probably start doing the same thing, perhaps even combining efforts. And it doesn't cost me a penny that I don't choose to spend. Contrast this with public transit in Boston, for instance, where the fare pays only 1/4 of the actual cost of the system, the rest being stolen from the taxpayers of Boston, Massachusetts, and the rest of the US (in decreasing degrees) at the point of a gun.

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