At first, Google commuters from San Francisco received buses that had plush seats and WiFi. Now, they are getting their own security.
Recently men wearing earpieces have watched passengers boarding the commuter buses for Google at one bus stop in the Mission District of San Francisco. Their presence comes just a couple of weeks after the Google buses became targets of protesters who blame the high-tech industry employees for the increase in city rents.
The days when Google was mentioned as an employer by young tech workers that gave them credibility are now gone. The company has expanded far beyond its roots of search engine on the Web to become a smartphone, advertising, social networking and finance behemoth that has many people resenting its power.
Of late, technology companies are becoming more aware that tensions exist. They have reached an agreement with San Francisco over the use of bus stops. Google just started an experiment with a chartered boat that could transport certain employees that live in San Francisco to its home office.
Google has also taken additional measures to give protection to is employees at the bus stops it is using in San Francisco.
Young men have been seen standing on a street in San Francisco waiting for the “Gbus” to arrive that transports Google employees to the Mountain View headquarters of the company 34 miles south of the city.
The men were dressed casually, wearing jeans and a hoodie, but had earpieces and jotted down notes when the buses arrived.
They did not board the bus as the others did, but remained at the stop watching intently as the fleet of white corporate buses from Google arrived to pick up employees.
An employee of Google who commutes on the bus said he did not recall seeing any monitoring taking place as Google bus stops.
