2022 TDM Excellence Award: Employer - Google

The Employer TDM Excellence Award was given to Google during the awards luncheon at the TDM Forum. Google has always been mindful of how Googlers get from point A to point B. Starting in 2007 as a single Vanpool from San Francisco to the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, which the New York Times noted in a 2007 article as the biggest perk available to employees.  Google’s fleet has now grown to over 300 buses.  

In addition, Google’s Transportation Team has grown its commuter transportation program beyond buses to include a robust suite of programs to improve the mobility experience both in the Bay Area and at multiple other Google office locations throughout the world.  This program includes:

GCab: In India, where Google transports over 5,000 Googlers on peak in-office days with 1,400 cabs (including over 400 electric cabs!) serving their campuses in five cities throughout India. 

Gbike: The GBike intercampus program uses free Googley colored bikes for employees to use throughout their Bay Area campuses. Currently more than 1,500 bikes are deployed to help Googlers get where they need to go quickly and enjoyably. 

Google is committed to bicycling as a primary mobility solution and offers several programs to make commuting by bike an attractive option. For example, their bike loaner program lends bicycles to employees who pledge to use it for their commute at least 60% of the time, and we also have a fleet of bikes for both interns and for Googlers traveling from other offices to borrow so they don’t need to have or rent a car.

Google also has over 50 vanpools in operation at several locations across North America. Google has partnered with Via to tackle the challenge of near distance commuters where shuttles and vanpools are not always the best option.

Google’s team leads planning efforts to add and improve sidewalks, bike lanes and pathways to further encourage safe bicycle commuting to and around our office locations. Google also strives to be good neighbors in the communities where they reside. For example, for the last seven years they have funded the Mountain View Community Shuttle. This free, all-electric shuttle service enhances mobility for local residents and runs daily service from major neighborhoods to other parts of the city.

With additional growth planned in the years to come, Google’s partnerships with local communities and public transit agencies to create innovative transportation solutions are sure to continue to be a top priority. Google is committed to reducing employee dependence on cars by improving the commuting experience for those who share rides or self-power commute. 

With all these programs in place along with a strong team of TDM professionals, we know that Google will achieve its goal of having 60% of employees to commute sustainably, with a goal of 10% of those biking to work.