Cyclists ask Google for directions

July 30, 9:17 PMSF Bicycle Transportation ExaminerBen Marks

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Bicycles at the Google campus in Mountain View, by daveyang, at Flicker.

If you've ever taken the back way to get to the Century Cinemas on Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View, you probably noticed all those baby-blue bicycles parked in front of the numerous office buildings that make up Google's growing campus. According to fortune.com, bicycles are the main way Google employees get from building to building for lunch, meetings, or whatever. I've even seen Google bicycles parked at the cinema itself.

Which is to say, Google is a very bike-friendly place. Last year the company gave (as in, "here, take this, please") Google-branded Raleigh commuter bicycles, as well as helmets, to 2,000 of its employees in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. These lucky worker bees were even able to choose their model, one of which was a folding cruiser.

So it's no surprise that a petition is now circulating, asking the search behemoth to add a "Bike there" feature to complement the "By car," "By public transit," and "Walking" options for directions at Google Maps.

As of July 30, 2008, more than 40,000 cyclists, including me, had signed the virtual document.

Amount of carbon dioxide not produced since July 10, 2008 thanks to commuting by bicycle: 86.66 pounds