This will work so long as the VTA is kept out of the loop. Their participation will only screw this up.

This is good news!

It is time that Google became a better neighbor and did more for Mountain View.

Google, Intuit and Samsung are world class companies that produce results.
I agree that it is essential to keep VTA and our VTA Board Member out of this.

Glad to hear of this generous gesture by Google.

This is GREAT news. I can envision riding these busses even if the only route is from downtown to Google-land along Shoreline Blvd. I look forward to hearing more about these plans, and hope they are implemented soon!

Thanks for the good news. The idea, assuming it means the shuttles will be paid for by the companies as the existing shuttles are, is a nice extension of transit to North of Bayshore.

I do have a quibble, however: You said, "Google is known for operating the largest private transit system in the world." Really? Have you ever been to Walt Disney World? I'm pretty sure their buses outnumber Google's by a lot, and run from morning to night connecting all the Disney hotels to all the Disney parks. (Some buses even go park to park.) And that's not even counting their three, count 'em three, monorail lines, their ferries and other transportation boats. (Of course they also have transportation as entertainment: the Magic Kingdom railroad, Storybook Land, and more exotic rides such as the Matterhorn bobsleds and Space Mountain.) I suspect the transit system to get guests from far flung parking lots to the parks at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim is also bigger than Google's.

A monorail rail! Now that's finally a great idea.
All Googlies and other dot-com employees can park at
Moffett Field (already paved) and ride a overhead monorail to work.
Much less traffic on Shoreline. Doesn't disturb Stevens Creek or nature areas.
City council and Google get together and make this happen.
Makes more sense then a line-up of 2 or 3 of their gigantic busses completely blocking 1 of only 2 lanes each way on Shoreline to let out the 1 bus rider during the day creating even more gridlock.

Instead of doing all these, they should encourage more people to work from home and start developing wings that people can attach to their bodies and start flying. Shoreline Blvd is a traffic nightmare or may be they should rent office spaces in every city from San Franciso to San Jose instead of people commuting long distances to Mountain View. BTw, the wings idea is a joke. I won't want some liberal nutjob replying to this comment about the wings.

I am hopeful some of these busses will be going down my street, and that I will be able to hop on them to get downtown or to get out to North Bayshore on occasion. Good progress all around.

It would be nice if Google and MV also considered building and supporting ferry service to/from MV/Shoreline to/from Oakland/SF/Berkeley etc. This would really help eliminate unneeded cars from 101 to MV and would be faster and a pleasant addition to transportation options. Google, do you read these comments?

I really want to like Google. I use them, but there's just something about them that isn't cool. Why do they feel the need to take over every inch of available land in Mt. View? Can't they expand somewhere else? They're branching out into areas of business that seem really odd to me (Web Link I dunno... maybe I'm old-school, but I have participated here in Silicon Valley long enough to have see the fall of many a mighty empire. They say, Do No Evil" but I'm not buyin it.

@resident
Ferry boats have a draft of about 5 ft. How long do you think it would take Google (or anyone else) to get approval to dredge a 1-2 mile channel through the wetlands so a ferry could dock anywhere near Shoreline?

If other options are not available, then there is a limit to growth that has to seriously be accepted by google, mv, the city council, mayor, and everyone. more is not better.

This is the type of thinking that will change public transit. High speed luxury buses up and down the Peninsula stopping at highway exit ramps with parking lots, designed to get commuters where they work from where they live, available to all with high speed internet.

At last, innovative public transit that will work.

And when the bus drivers stop driving like their heads are on fire the people in their way on 101 might actually be safer. This all comes crashing down when the first of these crazed drivers kills someone. Then Google is sues and that's not good for the bottom line so it ends.
Google better REALLY focus on their bus drivers because I think they are one of Google's biggest potential (local) liabilities.

Thats what we need, an if bus.

If the bus is not full of our workers, if it goes the place you want, if you meet the drivers dress code (sorry homeless) if the schedule does not change If the route does not change. If we want to publish the routes, No regulation means no one but the head google to respond to. Perhaps if this is run like bus route 10 free to all it just means VTA out of business.

Expanding on what Doug said, C'mon Mr.Debolt, where do you get your facts? I seriously doubt your statement is true.

For example, BMW has a private bus fleet of 300 buses stopping at 1500 stops, transporting 15,000 of the 18,500 employees that work at their Dingolfing production plant.

I know google's got a bunch of buses, but largest in the world?

I'm not sure what is the point of the ongoing thread about whose transportation network is larger.

What I'd like to have is buses traveling back and forth on Shoreline from El Camino Real to Shoreline Park. I like to walk there and it would save traffic and parking for everyone if there were bus service.

About VTA: Look at Stanford's Marguerite system which "plays nicely" alongside VTA, with sensibly located stops and routes. Is the anti-VTA sentiment from people who actually use VTA (I do), or from those who like to knock government services?

Free Food to Free Bus, Doesn't City Welcomes businesses to improve local businesses? MV City Change City Name to GOOGLE CITY ALL YOU SEE ARE GOOGLE TALL BUILDINGS AND TALL BUSSES AROUND CITY. NO MORE VIEW OF THE EAST AND WEST MOUNTAINS. .

LoveYourDNA,

Google has offices all over the bay area… Actually the world. The HQ happens to be in Mountain View, and that is a good thing for us MV residents, BTW I don't work for Google. But let's be fair, Intuit, Symantic and now Samsung, plus others are key tenants in Mountain View. Google does not have every development or building, it just may seem that way because of the history of the old Sun and SGI campuses and other historical key tenants in the North Bayshore area. I am not sure what you are not buying, but It is exciting to see what was a dump and a dying downtown become a vibrant business center and an exciting destination due to the employee base we have here in Mountain View.

Does Intuit currently have any shuttles from San Francisco to Mountain View??

Isn't there somewhere else Google could park all of its buses? I parked near Shoreline Amphitheater the other day to eat my lunch and was shocked at how many buses were parked there. Some running, some not. That is a lot of buses. I wonder how many are parked there on a regular basis? Do people tend to avoid the area due to all the buses rather than enjoy the natural area nearby?

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