China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under (video)
By Richard Lai 
posted August 2nd 2010 9:13AM
posted August 2nd 2010 9:13AM
posted August 2nd 2010 9:13AM
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Wow, so much negativity. Why are so many people giving the same criticism instead of maybe think of a solution to those problems?
I think it's a great idea with a lot of potential. I actually spent some time thinking about this. This article made me want to comment on Engadget for the first time.
Here's what I thought: l think the bus should come with its own traffic lights. It should also be given the authority to dictate whenever the car is allowed to pass it by. This should be signaled by a sign other than the traffic lights to avoid confusion.
Personally, I think a car should only be allowed to pass the bus when the bus has stopped at a station.
In return, the bus should only be allowed to pass cars during slow traffic or jams.
All this should eliminate most of the valid points made against this idea. I'm sure I missed out on some points, you're welcome to enlighten me.
The biggest gain from this project is to decrease traffic congestion. A bus that will never be stuck in traffic jams, stimulating the use of public transport, while slightly decreasing the growth of car usage at the same time. All this, at a much, much lower cost compared to building new infrastructures, not to mention the economical operation costs.
Oh and another thing, regular bus tracks will become regular tracks too, since we're not going to need them anymore. :)
what if a bus breaks down, the people will be trapped up in the air, it must be a nightmare to fix and if another bus is on the same route it wouldnt be able to get by
@nq83
There's like an escape thing. You didnt watch the video didnt you?
@nq83
The Chinese have wings.
wow!!! i hope we had the same in the usa maybe apple will be build one lol
The only way this would work is if the train was the same height as a normal tractor trailer. Otherwise if this thing stops at a bus stop, a semi going 60 on the highway is going to rip right through this giant ass "thing" that is at a dead stop. Theres no way that truck would be able to stop. And as far as traffic lights, there would have to be a camera on the front of this thing pointing at the next traffic light, with numerous tv screens underneath so the drivers under the bus could see when to stop/go. It could work but it needs more thought.
They've got it all wrong, the bus should be a giant ramp that cars can jump over; Duke's of Hazard style. Oh yeah.
I think most car will only pass under it when it stop at a bus stop.
I would like to see when a car hits another car under the bus and causes an accident, seriously, they gotta think of what other drivers will be acting like
i would like to see how much it costs..............probably the cost of 6 normal buses.
@Sil
50 million yuan according to the news article. Carries over a thousand people.
Great value IMO.
First person to bump the edge of the bus, massive accident, going to stop the whole operation.
我记得 美国 有 一种 大型的 移动公路中间的 隔离带的 车辆，在高速公路上，一头 举起 隔离带，在尾部 放下隔离带，然后 高速公路的 车道 数量就被 重新 调整了，其实概念是一样的。看到很多的小车 也是 从下面 通过。
Nice idea... Saves a lot of money, and allows more efficient use of the roadway.. no need to clear up another train track line between the buildings -- just reuse existing roads. This actually is a genius idea if they can make it practically feasible -- Amazing!!!!
Wow, I thought slashdot comments were redundant and ill-informed.
The bus in the picture might need a big turn radius, or it could be broken up like a train into smaller segments.
What's wrong with the bus wanting to turn against the traffic underneath it? It's no different from a train in the middle of traffic - you just put stop lights at the places the train will turn and let the train turn while the cars are stopped.
I see one disadvantage being the extra weight added by the supporting legs - you'd need some regenerative breaking to compensate for accelerating that extra mass.
One thought springs to mind - sure, running monorail track is expensive and more upfront investment. But would it be competitive if you didn't run continuous track? What about a series of piers which the train would continuously bridge? Imagine piers spaced 50' apart, with the nose of the train hanging out in space until it hits the next pier. It's an odd idea, but might reduce the cost of monorail lines dramatically.
I see too many design flaw.
Truly insane. Jack up an ultra-wide bus, twelve feet in the air on stilts. Then add sufficient structural reinforcement to make up for this mistake, roughly tripling the mass of said vehicle - particularly because the stilts can't be linked at the bottom. With the centre of gravity so far up, it's going to have the stability and structural integrity of a wet bus ticket in a hurricane. To make things work at all, you the vehicle has to run on rails, embedded in road lanes from which other vehicle must be excluded.
Or... build a bus/LRT lane for the use of lightweight, fast, affordable vehicles, incuding low-profile double-deckers.
I believe the name is "Standing Express Coach". 3D and "upright-form" (or standing-up) is the same word in Chinese.
I am sure it was already said, but what if the bus suddenly starts changing lanes? Granted, they can forbid that, but the chance is always there.
Why is nobody here coming up with that stuff? See, this is why it will be the new superpower.
@Trickymaster Driving under buses is a superpower? Hmm...
@Trickymaster because people in the US are more concerned with the little Justin Beber kid or twittering and diddling themselves instead of going to school from 7-10PM everyday 6 days a week in China.
This is probably one of the greatest inventions I have ever heard of. Glad to hear that there is actually a plan to roll this out by the end of the year.
The two things that bother me the most about living in Beijing are the pollution and the traffic. This certainly addresses both issues. And for those of you that have been to Beijing, you will know that one of the biggest instigators of traffic in the city are the buses! Hope this is a huge success and will be deployed out to the Beijing city center.
I don't see why anyone would want to risk drive under one.
om nom nom nom nom
Fine. Go ahead, throw me under the bus.
How about we make the cab vertical, with only one set of rails, and stabilize it with a cable?
that's great innovation from my home country, one of the biggest reason they want to build this is because subway takes longer time(3 Years) to construct a complete city route than this one (only one year).
Ideal for straight roads with no curves or junctions. Turning must be done at some sort of terminus - where the whole bus is turned. It is a good idea, and gets buses out of the way of smaller vehicles and does use space cleverly. However, they will need to make them more flexible in future and this is where problems will most likely occur. Good luck to them. Maybe eventually we can all have perfectly straight roads too.
What happens when one breaks down... the one bus route is borked.
Why not just focus on making getting on and off a bus more efficient...
I can just imagine the conversation between the inventor and the model builder for this project.
MB: 解释一遍。
I: 巴士就像一个移动的隧道
MB: 它必须在你的办公室是非常热。
I: 你是什么意思？
MB: 没关系。
How is this supposed to steer? It takes up 2 lanes and is twice as long as a bus. The thing's going to turn like an ocean liner and that's even with the tracks supporting it. Either they use segmented sections or this thing will only travel in straight lines.
How about trains like this that use nearly the same rail right of ways? One direction is normal the other is above. Just have computer automated doors that don't allow entry to lower rail when other train is approaching. You could double the usage of the same right-of-way.
Some one must have had a good connection to a gov. grant. budget for "dream land concept".
I want to see the INSIDE after it takes the curves....this demo does not show that .. It must be funny .. I love the escape system like throwing hot bread down the oven lid...
But then they'll sell fast food on the top floor, show them advertising to sell them things...and all this will make more income..the ultimate DRY LAND FERRY.. why not by the many discused UK hovercrafts for a trial:-) ?
I can't find any reports about the company or that Bejing Mentougou local government is testing this bus system. It seems the only evidence out there is the video of the man talking and few pictures of the model.
Think we need more sources?