Wed 2 Apr 2008
Scootering Around Google HQ
Posted by TJ under Google
It’s not exactly the Google bus system bringing employees to and from the Googleplex in California, but I did happen upon a pretty cool transportation method at Google’s New York HQ.
Google is located in the old Port Authority building on 15th and 8th, and the vast digs extend all the way to 9th Avenue.
To help those ultra-motivated young dotcommers get from A to B (and to the freakin’ sweet, and totally free) cafeteria, Google has set up scooter depots at various points around the building. The depots hold 10-12 of those lightweight Razor scooters that owned Gotham sidewalks about six years ago. It’s like cycling in Copenhagen or Paris–grab a ride, take it to where you want to go, and leave it at the station for the next person.
I think I saw at least three such stations during my brief visit to the Google compound. (I was also surprised not to bump into anyone I knew in that massive cafeteria, then remembered Google requires like a 3.5 college GPA or something. That explains it.)
I didn’t actually see anyone riding a scooter; the cynic in me wonders if they’re mostly there to reinforce Google’s devil-may-care core value and to encourage visitors to tell their friends (and even blog about!) those crazy scooters at the kooky Google HQ–along with the on-site masseuses, video game room and pool table.
The scooter idea is still pretty sweet though. Then again, with a market cap such as Google’s, they might spring for those baseball hat buggies favored by mustachioed relief pitchers in the 1970s.
[images from Razor, nflnut.com]