Last year, a video from China of an elevated bus with cars zooming past underneath emerged online and went viral the world over through WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and the like. Turns out the Chinese weren’t mucking around and the “straddling bus” is actually doing a test run in one Chinese province.
The transit elevated bus, TEB, is on a road-test in Qinhuangdao in north China’s Hebei Province. The 22 meter long, 7.8 meters wide and 4.8 meter high bus can carry up to 300 passengers. Metropolitan cities of China struggle with massive traffic jams like other major cities around the world. This futuristic bus, well not so much anymore, rises above other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath.
Once it is fully up and running, developers have claimed it will be able to carry 1,200 passengers at a time.
India is one of the countries along with Brazil, France and Indonesia that has expressed interest in the bus.
The test run took place on a 300 meter-long controlled track and was separated from road traffic and only one TEB was used. However, four TEB cars can be linked together. The project’s chief engineer told Xinhua, a Chinese news agency, “The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space.