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Tech Worker Buses Targeted On Bay Area Freeway

CUPERTINO (KPIX 5) – Six buses chartered by two major Bay Area tech companies to get employees to and from work were recently targeted by someone launching projectiles at the vehicles as they traveled on Interstate 280, authorities said.

The buses carrying the employees had been using I-280 to get between San Francisco, Cupertino and Mountain View.

Five of the attacks happened in the morning and evening on Tuesday between Highway 84 in Woodside and Highway 85 in Cupertino.

Four of the buses were carrying workers for the tech giant Apple, while the fifth was carrying Google workers.

Chartered tech bus
Chartered tech bus (CBS)

Early Wednesday evening, CHP told KPIX 5 that there was another earlier incident that happened last Friday involving a chartered bus, but authorities did not say what company operated that bus.

After the recent incidents, many buses are being rerouted to Highway 101.

Photos sent by an anonymous Apple employee to the website Mashable showed the broken windows on Apple employee shuttle buses.

Broken tech bus window
Broken tech bus window (Mashable)

CHP said the buses were attacked with some sort of projectile while on interstate 280 between Cupertino and San Francisco.

"At this point, we don't know what was actually thrown at them or shot at them, said Redwood City CHP Officer Art Montiel. We're not ruling anything out.  It could be anything from a rock to a BB gun."

The rocks or shots only took out the outer layer of the buses' double pane windows and no one was hurt.

Although all of the buses were unmarked, the shuttles are well known for transporting high-tech workers. Protesters have targeted them before.

An internal Apple employee memo on the incident says coaches are being re-routed for the time being and that the detours could result in longer commute times for employees.

"These buses transport employees for these companies so they are usually full. So there could be major casualties," said Officer Montiel.

The CHP is investigating but so far there are no suspects.

There was no word as to whether ridership on the chartered employee buses was down due to the incidents.

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