Using a fake badge to break into a Google building to steal a bicycle sounds very of far fetched. More likely they are some of Apple's industrial spies trying to steal corporate secrets.

That would be the dumbest crime ever. There are hundreds of Google bikes laying around *outside* the building, and all over town. Why try to enter a building to get one?!

It isn't uncommon for people try try to get into office buildings to steal anything they can get: purses, laptops, packages...anything.
We had a rash of thefts of purses out of offices when I worked in the area.

Maybe some of the Google bikes are kept inside, but there are plenty of bikes outside the buildings as well as lots of them left in remote/random areas. Why not take one of those? Jara's claim for why they were breaking into the building sounds a bit fishy.

I had two Google bikes in my possession by accident/coincidence.i agree,
this story stinks

I can testify that Google has AWESOME security. Don't try anything around campus. It's like a Vegas casino with cameras everywhere!

Gee, maybe the would-be thief had his eye on a $10k bike someone rode to work, not one of the cheap campus clunkers outside?

You've got to be joking. Those bikes are scattered all over town. They're not breaking into Google to steal them.

They were trying to steal something a lot more valuable, like laptops, say.

or maybe that was what he told security. iot wouldn't be a shocker that the criminals not tell the truth about whet they were doing.
Monetary worth aside, stealing a bike sounds less serious than stealing a laptop or someone's purse.

of course they need something with wheels to carry all the laptops, wallets, and other small valuables.

if they wanted a plain bike they could just pick any of the dozens standing/lying around mountain view

I can attest that Google security does not catch everything...though we never did anything like stealing or property damage. Still, we should have been chased off by security, but we were not ;)

And the other thing, nobody's going to the trouble to print a fake Google badge if you can just grab one of the abandoned bikes that's on the street or the side of Steven's Creek Trail, say. Theft is nothing if not a crime of opportunity..... the more the effort the higher the profit.

Oh, I sometimes see two bikes discarded next to each other....

right, and the same for stealing a "real' bike.
The effort needed to print a badge and sneak in adds many extra risks and chances to get caught. Bike thieves generally take what they can get on the street. It makes MUCH more sense that they were after other things and just said they were after a bike.

A Goggle manager told me that not are the bikes just dumped around, he watched an employee complete a trip and throw the bike in the creek. We've had one in our parking lot of over a year. A friend called around at Google about one in front of his business and (finally) reached a person who said that he should bring it back over to Google. Arrogance supreme. Obviously they don't really care.

What? Is Marshall's arrogant for not picking up their shopping carts?
I saw one on the street corner for weeks even after I called to let them know. Obviously they are supremely arrogant and don't care...but then I realized that thought was irrational and just my overzealous hatred of Marshall's cropping up.

Jeeze, some people really just want to hate on something. Sad people supreme.

I can't get over the fact that someone kept a bike in their parking lot for over a YEAR and though it bother him (obviously) he didn't just roll it to the sidewalk or street corner. He literally kept it there for over a year.
I see the truck come by all the time picking up the strays. Weekends too.
Seems you had the solution to your problem the whole time but chose to suffer for a full year instead. Hey, at least you have something to complain about.
Some people. It's quite laughable.

I saw someone riding one of those multi-colored Google bikes up in Los Altos Hills the other day. Does Google have a building up there?

No, they do not.

Google bikes are all over the south Peninsula. They are littered all over Mountain View and south Palo Alto.

As mentioned by someone else, Google doesn't care about retrieving the wayward bikes. Setting up a system for the public to report bikes and sending out a truck to retrieve them is probably more costly to Google than just ordering a few more from their vendor.

Google apparently does run a van around to pick up obvious wayward bikes, but they certainly don't put much effort into the recovery process. I guess they already have a line item in their bike budget for loss.

Follow the adventures of Google Bikes around Mountain View: http://wheresthatgbike.tumblr.com

Wow, just think of the cost to MV for disposing of all these unwanted stray Google bicycles. then again our council members probably have a side "bicycle removal" business, more profit to them yay!

I LOVE seeing the Google bikes all over. That's the whole point. There's one whenever I need it when I'm in Shoreline. Yes, you'll see them, make no mistake, you will have to have them in your line of vision(so so sorry)
but again, the point is that they are use and leave for the next guy.

One man's definition of "Littered all over" is another man's definition of readily available.

You are right, you and everyone else CAN ONLY IMAGINE any costs to MV because there are no costs to MV. Now, how about that fast food cup that's been in my parking lot for 2 years...when is the city going to clean it up???
I hate seeing it and there is NOTHING I can do on my own.
Heeeelp....heeeeelp.

Ohhhhhh, so the Google bikes are REALLY meant to be a FREE bike share program for the ENTIRE community of Mountain View and THAT is we see them dumped all over town. (I mean really, is it that hard to use a bike rack people?) So, why hasn't Google made an announcement that they have launched a bike share program for the ENTIRE community of Mountain View?

I know that Google has a way for employees to report stray bikes that have ended up around the community (phone and app). Then Google will send a Security van to come pick it up, even on the weekends. Is there a way for the public to do the same?

@BD:

No.

Yes, we get the bikes in Palo Alto too! Are there any restrictions how far a Google employee can take them from googleland? We have Google buildings here too so it makes sense for employees to ride them between buildings.

On another note, I suspect that the earlier poster may have been right about the thief wanting to steal a more expensive bike that an employee used as commute transport. There are bikes being stolen at Palo Alto schools and it is always the expensive bikes being stolen while the cheap ones are left. Our policy has been to make sure our kids bikes are inexpensive and they always use a bike rack beside an expensive bike so that theirs are not stolen. It works!

@Freebikes: Nobody has ever been cited for being a non-employee on a Google bike. I'm sure they have an official policy, but if nobody is even interested in enforcing that policy...read between the lines.
If they say everyone can ride them then they are open to the lawyers, but they do not care if non-employees use them, it's simply at their own risk.

Is this really a big concern? Must be nice.

One time I was at a concert at Shoreline and decided to just borrow a Google bike to get to my car, which was also on campus. Intention was to just ditch the bike at the site my car was parked.

However, I was almost immediately stopped by Google security and asked if I had a badge.

I'm sure if it was the daytime, they'd have no problem, but concert-goers was another issue, I suppose. And it was mid-concert, so it wasn't like a thousand kids around.


I've seen them abandoned deep in the suburbs of Mountain View, but never really considered adopting one, just because I figure they have some sort of LoJack on them. They're cheap enough bikes for Google not to care, and have those ugly colors (you'd have to repaint it) but a bike is a bike.

The Google campus reminds me of Eagleton from Parks & Recreation.

I believe that this is our local boy Web Link

report stray bikes ... Is there a way for the public to do the same?

Bikes have a sign with a phone number you can call.

You can send an email to Google to report lost bikes:

lostgbike@google.com

Shopping carts have a city penalty fee imposed on them, if collected in the neighborhood, they get $50 xx from the store. See how fast the stores pick them up..... But Google wants to leave bikes everywhere. They need a contact to pick up or be fined rule.

How about a finders keepers rule?

I know of other tech companies that have systems where employees simply check out bikes (by scanning their id badge) whenever they want to use them. Very simple procedure, and evidently the simple act of the employee "checking out" the bike cuts down dramatically on bikes being left strewn about town. Employees check a bike out, use it for however long and for whatever purpose they wish to use it for, on or off campus, and simply check the bike in when they arrive at their building location or are done using the bike for the day.

One would think that Google employees would respect their employers' property enough to make sure the Google bikes get back to campus when the employees are done using them. Evidently Google doesn't really care what happens to those bikes, and Google's employees know this and treat the bikes - and the city they litter with those bikes - accordingly. Way to lead by example, Google

Man people have become really prissy about things in this town. I LOVE the accessible bikes in the Shoreline area and I don't even work at the the big G.
It's a TOTAL benefit. I left one outside Intuit just a few hours ago and as i was walking back to my car I saw someone get on it and pedal on their way.