Like the solarsystem, Google seems to be ever expanding, but that’s not to say the company is not interested in staff issues and green issues, such as travel to and from work at the mothership in California. And so the search engine-cum-mapping-to-medicine-behemoth set about ways to improve the quality of Goggler’s lives from the San Fransciso Bay area; from Santa Cruz and San Jose right up to its Mountain View HQ.

It wasn’t an original idea, but most good ones aren’t. In 2004 Google started operating its own bus service, taking employees out of their cars, thus dramatically reducing Co2 emissions. Since the introduction of the scheme, around 1,200 of the company’s staff now board the bus, and this seems to be having a far reaching effect. Google’s good influence is rubbing off on other giants in the technology sector, including rival Microsoft.

The Microsoft Connector started last September, and according to Laila Stevenson, communications manager in real estate and facilities, the numbers taking up the scheme instead of getting in their own vehicles is increasing daily. The service in Redmond, Washington purports to take 240,000 cars off the road a year.

“It’s estimate that each employee riding Connector will save 30lbs of carbon emissions each day,” Stevenson states. Another pertinent factor is the price of oil right now which seems to be ever on the increase, with many employees claiming they’re saving around $100 a month. Bus benefits include free wi-fi and power outlets for gadgets, plus lots of staff apparently play cards, listen to music or read. Google says “perhaps the best thing is it gives you back up to two and a half hours a day.”

Not to be out done by their US business counterparts, initiatives are being introduced in the UK by large corporations as well. The insurance people Zurich, have signed up to a government scheme to promote green commuting. The company’s environment adviser Aurthur Champion says: “In Fareham we’ve introduced coaches, which are supplied by a local company.

“They lay on this kind of service either in conjunction with local government or independently. It’s good for the environment, people get to work on time and it makes life easier for everyone.”

And if you’re perhaps from the inner city, and the idea sitting on a bus in traffic doesn’t fill you with untold excitement, then you can always dodge through the gridlock by biking to work. Even better still, if you don’t actually own a bike then your employer can probably help you out. Cyclesheme users not only generate nada carbon dioxide, they also get fit in the process.