Apple employee buses are coming under attack and need to be rerouted. Mashable obtained an internal Apple email thread, saying that the company is working with law enforcement to get to the bottom of it.
Apple Commute Team
Here’s what the email said:
Subject: Coaches temporarily being rerouted
Due to recent incidents of broken windows along the commute route, specifically on highway 280, we’re re-routing coaches for the time being. This change in routes could mean an additional 30-45 minutes of commute time in each direction for some riders.
As always, the safety of our employees is our first priority. We’re working closely with law enforcement to investigate these incidents and we’ll notify you as soon as the coaches are able to return to the regular route. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
The Apple Commute Team
It seems that Google buses are also getting attacked, and thankfully no injuries were reported by either company. In 2013 Google buses were attacked by protesters who were protesting gentrification. Although Mashable’s report doesn’t directly mention protesters, it could be something similar.
One Apple employee speculated that the assailants were firing rubber rounds at the buses. At least four separate buses have had its windows broken while driving on a certain highway.
Sadly this is probably connected to people who oppose “the wealthy.” But what they forget is that “the wealthy” are really companies that provide jobs to millions of people. The people on those buses are going to work. They get a paycheck. They buy health insurance. They buy braces for their kids. They give money to charity. They buy cars and pay for oil changes (which gives more people jobs.)
When we stand back and see it all, the protestors are against the free market system which brought us Apple in the first place.
And it might not be a protest at all, or even targeting Apple and/or Google, despite all the speculation around the web. . It might just be some bored person who got a pellet gun for christmas.
It is my understanding that the buses are unmarked so they are probably not targeting Apple and Google in particular. It is probably more of anattack in general against tech company buses. The tech companies are getting the blame for the gentrification of what were at one time working class neighborhoods.
I’ve come to hate the word gentrification. Any improvement, and investment, any urban renewal is now branded gentrification. You know what? Human constructions be it a house or a neighbourhood or a city or a country, can only do one of two things. It can grow and evolve, or it can decay and die. Stasis is not possible. So what was once a working class neighbourhood is now upscale. Sounds like good news to me. Beats the alternative. Far better than trying to artificially keep it the same and ending up with a slum. Harlem in New York has gone from poor to working class to upscale to decaying and back multiple times over the centuries. That is the nature of cities.