[dragonwriter]

> Isn't this the city's job? I actually think it's kind of creepy that Corporations are taking the role of the City. The general idea is the City collects taxes and uses those to provide services like buses.

The article seems to indicate that city is operating them and Google is funding them (EDIT: see the chain of replies, its a bit different structure; I don't think that invalidates the following point, however); while I don't think that it should be the exclusive means, I don't see why you wouldn't want to accept that one way that new public services might be piloted is by having an interested private party who has the funds and thinks the service would be valuable simply contribute support for the service for the period of the pilot project, which is what is happening here.

[Kalium]

I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation. To my reading, the article implies the buses are operated by Google.

[chockablock]

According to the FAQ [1] you're both wrong :)

"Google has contracted with ALTRANS ... to manage the daily operations and customer service needs for the Mountain View Community Shuttle."

[1] http://www.mountainview.gov/depts/pw/community_shuttle.asp

[Kalium]

Thank you!

Overseen by the city. Huh. Wonder what that structure looks like.