REDWOOD CITY (KPIX 5) – Just as Bay Area high-tech firms such as Google have been using private shuttle buses to transport their workers to their jobs, Google is taking it to another level with its own ferry service on San Francisco Bay.

KPIX 5 has learned that Google has contracted with a private firm to provide a catamaran to ferry its workers from San Francisco to Redwood City.

The service started Monday and the catamaran – the Triumphant which holds 149 passengers – runs two trips in the morning from San Francisco to Redwood City and two return trips in the evening. The ride takes about 47 minutes each way.