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A futuristic bus designed to sit elevated above the road and allow traffic to pass underneath it has begun trials in China as a way to ease congestion problems.
The so-called “straddling bus”, or Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) to give its real name, is more than 20 metres long and features a huge cabin that can hold more than 300 people. This is supported by wheels on a track that are two road lanes width apart, with the cabin itself elevated around 10 feet above the road so cars can pass under it.
Shanghaiist – Timeline | Facebook
The idea is to ease traffic on China’s roads, but the idea has been just a concept until now.
As first tests go this was also a very modest one, with the bus only moving 300 metres down a test track with few pieces of other traffic around.
According to Shanghaiist the final design could see the number of passengers the TEB can carry rise to 1,200 people, all the while travelling at nearly 40 miles per hour, as the original concept video shows.
Shanghaiist – Timeline | Facebook
There’s no word yet on if and when it could be moved into full production and eventually daily use, but it appears that China is keen to push ahead with the design.
