Google Starts Ferry Service Following Bus Protest

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Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has started a ferry service for its employees after the buses were the target of protests in San Francisco. The web giant has started ferry service dubbing it “The Triumphant,” which will transport employees on a trial basis to its Silicon Valley campus, according to CBS San Francisco.

“We certainly don’t want to cause any inconvenience to SF residents, and we’re trying alternative ways to get Google to work,” a Google spokesperson said told CNET.

Google, other tech firms facing protests

The ferry could carry 149 passengers at a time, and would make four trips a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. The company started the trial service on Monday.

For quite some time now, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other tech companies have been facing protests from the residents of San Francisco for their bus shuttle service to and from Silicon Valley.

The dispute between the tech industry and the community started a few months ago, and has been continuously growing since then. The community sees the tech buses around the city as a major symbol of divide in San Francisco and Oakland homes.

The protests were carried against almost all big tech companies including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). The non-Valley public has started raising their discomforts and concerns against the tech employees.

Protestors concerned about rising fares

According to the residents, who are protesting the bus services, they are concerned about the increasing fare of the buses as they are carrying the highly paid tech workers in the city.  It has been reported that the pick and drop buses have increased the rents and home prices around the bus pick up and drop off locations.

The main issue is that the tech buses stop and pick up passengers without paying anything to the city. Now, according to the Mayor Ed Lee, the city will also levy charges on the tech buses that stop at public bus stops.

The report from CBS notes that the ferry service started by Google would pay the Port of San Francisco for each ferry docking, which is charged on all boats that use the port on a short-term basis.

The increasing rents because of highly-paid tech workers have resulted in demonstrations and blocking of routes to which these buses travel. The dispute grew graver when the protestors broke the window of one of the Google buses in Oakland, as reported by The New York Times.

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