straddlingbus
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China's elevated bus demoed with cars driving underneath
Six years ago, China came up with a super wacky idea: A large straddling bus that can let cars drive under it, which could be a cost-effective way to skip over congested traffic while carrying hundreds of passengers a pop. Today, this concept has evolved from a miniature model to a full-scale moving mockup, as unveiled in Hebei province's Qinhuangdao city yesterday. This "Transit Elevated Bus" or "TEB" in short is designed to handle 300 passengers, and it comes in at 22 meters long, 7.8 meters wide (covering two lanes) plus 4.8 meters tall. That's right, it's only a tad taller than a double-decker bus for the sake of existing bridges in China, so only cars less than two meters tall can drive under the TEB.
Bus that travels over traffic longs for US embrace, designer seeks stateside collaborators
Can't imagine this one's left your collective conscience, but just in case: back in August, Shenzen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment unveiled its design for a commuter monorail that used the space between traffic and bridges. In a sense, the bus would straddle over its four-wheeled brethren at a rate of 25 to 50mph. Construction reportedly starts in Beijing's Mentougou district by year's end, but what of the rest of the world? Designer Song Youzhou has founded US Elevated High-Speed Bus (Group) Inc which, as the name would suggest, is on the look-out for manufacturers to build (and outlets to sell) the so-called straddling bus to the proper American locales. Sure, we're the Land of the Free and Home of the Extra-Tall Trucks (and Low Overhead Bridges), but don't let that get you discouraged.
China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under (video)
Seriously, this is the future that China's envisioning: huge friggin' buses engulfing smaller cars on the road. Despite the silly picture and the eccentric "3D Express Coach" branding, this cunning project by Shenzhen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment actually makes sense. The idea is to make use of the space between regular-size cars and bridges, thus saving construction costs as well as minimizing congestion impact by allowing cars to drive underneath these jumbo buses. Fancy hitching a ride? You better start planning your move to Beijing's Mentougou district, which is where Huashi will commence building its first 186km of track at year's end. For now, enjoy the Chinese demo video after the break (translation text at source link).
