In a bid to offer workers a convenient and traffic-free alternative to get to the office, Facebook is going to do a test run of the boat that will bring its workers across the San Francisco Bay, VentureBeat reported.
The charter boat which measures 53 feet is called the "New El Dorado III." After it was initially launched on February 4, the 90-day trial run will have the ferry plying the San Francisco to Redwood City route on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Citing what a Facebook spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle, the report said that during its test run, the ferry will be making one trip in the morning and a return trip in the evening.
Facebook's water taxi has a capacity of 30 people. The catamaran, which is owned and operated by the Tideline Marine Group, features such amenities as Wi-Fi, coffee and snacks. A $95 per day docking fee is charged to Facebook as well as a $1.75 fee for each rider by the Port of Redwood City. The employees then ride a shuttle for 10 minutes once they reach Redwood City to get to the tech giant's main office in Menlo Park, the report said.
Google also initiated similar efforts. The search giant also provided employees with one ferry from San Francisco and another in Oakland to make the commute to the Google office in Mountain View easier. While it's difficult to determine the real reason why seafaring vessels are looked upon as the answer to the traffic problems in the Bay Area, it could be the tech companies' way of responding to the backlash its private tech buses have created. Many see the shuttles as a symbol of the excessive pride of the tech industry which has led to violent protests in the past few months, the report said.
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