
Google’s Latest Search: What Happened to Its Bikes? - jnordwick
https://www.wsj.com/articles/googles-latest-search-what-happened-to-its-bikes-1515172167
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cabaalis
> “They don’t really want us to use it, but it’s OK if you do.” Ms. [redacted]
> said that when a bike is available at the train station she rides it 10
> minutes to her house, and then keeps it overnight behind her gate. The next
> morning, she rides it back to the station, where she catches the train to
> her job at Google rival Oracle Corp. “You know, I rent it for a day.”

This seems like theft?

Edit: I removed the lady's name from the comment

~~~
cantrip
I don't think redacting her name is necessary. Ms. Veach's full name, place of
employment, and picture appear in the article.

Is it theft? Probably by the definition of the law. But it's also a bit
nebulous in practice and expected repercussions.

I personally have pirated movies, jay walked, and danced at a bar in NYC, and
would be perfectly fine with a news article quoting me admitting as much.

Is it illegal for Uber to skirt taxi laws? Is it illegal for AirBnb to ignore
hotel laws? Probably. But no one is going to stop them and no one is going to
stop Ms. Veach from borrowing a bike left in public.

~~~
shazzy
Interestingly (in the UK) theft requires that the perpetrator have the
intention of "permanently depriving" [1] the owner. So at least in the UK this
seems like it wouldn't be counted as theft.

[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/crossheading/de...](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/crossheading/definition-
of-theft)

~~~
bspn
Probably not theft, but I think it would qualify as criminal conversion.
Google would likely need to complain though for the authorities to do anything
about it, and I can't see them doing that.

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russellbeattie
I'm glad they're using GPS now, because I've lived in and around Mountain View
for the past 10 years and it's becoming a bit crazy lately. There are bikes
dumped _everywhere_. I'm always surprised how far away from Google's campus
they end up. Having GPS, they'll eventually get picked up, which is good. If I
started seeing stripped down Google bike parts strewn about (like in creeks)
because they'd been left to rust, it'd be more than annoying, but as long as
Google cleans up its mess, I think it's fine.

In terms of using a Google bike, I never have. But I'd be fine in doing so as
a Mountain View resident. They use my street as a Waymo testing ground,
literally using myself and any other pedestrian as beta testers for their
driving safety algorithms, so I think I'd be quite justified borrowing one of
their bikes: Quid pro quo.

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eitland
At work the municipality runs the bike share.

I can unlock a nearby bike using the app or by using my code on a touchscreen
on the bike rack.

I can then use it for up totwo hours before I have to leave it at another bike
rack.

Price: approx USD 30 for a season (April to December)

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drewg123
When I worked at Google, I lived walking distance from the Mountain View
campus & walked to work every day. I used to like finding gbikes on my way to
work, as I would just ride them in. The ones I found on the way home, I'd
report to Google Security. They seemed happy to come and collect them. There
were always a lot more bikes after concerts / events at the Shoreline
Amphitheater.

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wils1245
These bikes are a nusicance in Mountain View if you don’t work for Google.
They’re left all over the place - in lawns, in landscaping, right in the
middle of the sidewalk. The article blames non-Google employees, but they’re
often carelessly placed right near Google buildings with nothing else but
office buildings around.

If I lived in Mountain View (I used to work there) I’d help myself too.

~~~
lern_too_spel
How does "helping yourself" solve the problem? Why not report the bicycle
thieves instead for causing the nuisance?

~~~
wils1245
It doesn’t solve the problem. It’s Google’s problem. If Google is going to do
nothing whatsoever to secure their property, it’s not the police’s job to do
it for them.

~~~
lern_too_spel
And it's not your job to be a bicycle thief.

You're like a tagger who believes you have the right to spray paint a wall
just because the owner of the wall hasn't installed a security alarm. In my
eyes, the bicycle thieves are worse because they are rich adults with money.

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ggg9990
If you leave a bunch of unlocked bikes around, expect people to take them.
It’s like leaving a plate of cookies out and then getting mad when people eat
them.

~~~
lern_too_spel
This I can agree with. What maddens me is how brazen the thieves are in this
case. People who have gainful employment are openly stealing bicycles and
littering them throughout the city without any shame.

~~~
ggg9990
The bikes appear to be strewn about the city to begin with, even when they are
on Google property. If you see a bunch of people riding these bikes between
buildings and just leaving them there why wouldn’t you do the same?

~~~
lern_too_spel
Google property is in North Bayshore which is an office park wasteland. People
are stealing them from parking lots on these office parks and riding them over
the freeway into the residential and commercial areas of Mountain View. I
wouldn't do the same because I am not a thief.

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jtmcmc
"Ms. Veach said the Gbikes are “a reward for having to deal with the buses”
carrying Google employees that barrel down her street each morning. “I ride a
bicycle…to balance it out,” she said."

that is some insane level of justification right there...

~~~
bllguo
Seriously, it's absurd. I cannot believe the mental gymnastics people will go
to in order to justify their behavior. At least accept that you're doing
something wrong.

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thix0tr0pic
non-paywalled version: [https://t.co/gRcNYuXTcg](https://t.co/gRcNYuXTcg)

~~~
pro_zac
Still paywalled. Forwards to same url.

~~~
grzm
With a different REFERER, though. The above works for me.

------
alex_young
Honest question - why can't we have bike shares everywhere?

Looks like there are something like 17.4 million new bikes sold in the US a
year and around 100 million riders. [0]

That works out to a new bike every five and a half years. What happens to the
old bikes? Can't we figure out a way to standardize the components a bit and
keep them in working condition as a municipal resource? Can't be that hard to
pull off, and it would certainly have health benefits.

[0] [https://nbda.com/articles/industry-
overview-2015-pg34.htm](https://nbda.com/articles/industry-
overview-2015-pg34.htm)

~~~
gt_
For a brief period following the turn of the millennium, many urban centers in
the west (Seattle, Washington, Portland) had bicycle clubs who introduced a
slew of “green bikes” which were spray painted green and considered public
domain. It was more an ideal than a productive measure. The painting and
introduction of the bikes was one thing but maintenance was another. I knew a
person who would repair them when he found broken ones, and I think it was
briefly part of programming at certain bicycle co-ops. As the urban areas
started growing again, tht effort came to an end, but I took many trips on
green bikes myself. They were usually slow going and somewhat dangerous to
ride, and of course one could not plan to find them later when left on the
street. I had seen them locked up before but the understanding was breaking
that lock wasn’t considered steeling because literally every part on the bike
was spray painted green. The bikes were popular with people in their early
twenties and homeless people. I never saw anyone using them whose appearance
didn’t match these categories.

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chocolatebunny
> he once confronted what he thought was a homeless woman on a Gbike. “I mean
> if I could describe her, you would agree with me,” he said. “She looked all
> panicked, and then she showed me her Google badge.”

Damn, that's cold.

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bobsgame
I tried to ride one of the bikes from one Google building to another once and
a black security SUV pulled up and started yelling at me. They aren't very
good bikes anyway- they are fixies which are kind of useless for rides longer
than a block.

~~~
s0rce
Loads of people ride fixies and would probably disagree with you. I don't
personally like them since I live on a hill but they work on flats ok.

~~~
dguaraglia
To be fair the problem with the Gbikes is not that they are fixies, but rather
that they are super heavy. They work fine for moving around the campus, but
you wouldn't want to ride more than a mile in them. I'm pretty sure that's by
design.

~~~
MrFoof
Amazingly, they are much lighter than some other services.

Boston's Hubway bikes are 3-speed, but 42 pounds despite (I believe) an
aluminum frame. New York's Citi Bikes are also 3-speed, but 45 pounds.

~~~
dguaraglia
Holy crap, I didn't even know you could make a bike that heavy.

~~~
ariwilson
Almost all electric bikes weigh more than that (source: me one handing city
rideshare bikes after carrying around my electric bike).

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staunch
It's hard for a sheltered prince like Larry Page to imagine a $100 piece of
property having any value at all but that's food for a month if you're poor.
People rightly recognize the arrogance those bikes represent and it makes them
feel entitled to take them.

I fully support a needy person that takes what a rich person considers to
disposable enough to leave on the street unsecured.

In my judgement, Google has implicitly granted permission for the needy to
take their bikes and anyone to borrow them.

~~~
monksy
It's absurd to justify theft, even if it's unsecured. If those people need
food, there are organizations and charities that are out there to provide for
that.

I'm not sure how you can fully support the idea that you should take from the
rich. With that concept, I should introduce someone poorer than you and have
them take from your wallet. (It demeans how they, "the rich", got there, it
demean's society's valuation on their work)

~~~
gt_
> _There are organizations and charities out there to provide that._

It’s absurd to use the compassion of others to justify the lack of your own.

EDIT: The one soup kitchen in my neighborhood (with massive homeless problems)
just closed because the building was bought by a hotel developer

These places don’t _just exist_. They _sometimes_ exist, but not reliably, and
they depend on people’s willfulness to act and defend them. The problem is
further complicated when compounding child custody concerns and substance
abuse. I am not taking sides here, but pointing out how important it is that
we not take these efforts for ganted. Once we do, they vanish. I think the
above comment exemplifies what it looks like to take them for granted.

~~~
lern_too_spel
Google provides free shuttle service to the city[1]. If they didn't, does that
justify hijacking their campus shuttles?

[1] [https://mvcommunityshuttle.com](https://mvcommunityshuttle.com)

