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China Unveils 'Straddling Bus' Design To Beat Traffic Jams (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the beating-the-traffic dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A Beijing company has unveiled spectacularly futuristic designs for a pollution-busting, elevated bus capable of gliding over the nightmarish mega-jams for which urban China has become notorious. The "straddling bus," which owes more to Blade Runner than China's car-clogged highways, is supported by two legs that run along rails laid along the roadside. Those legs allow the Transit Explore Bus, or TEB's giant frame to glide high above the gridlock at speeds of up to 60km per hour. Equally, vehicles that are less than two metres high will be able to drive freely underneath the bus, even when it is stationary. "The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space," Song Youzhou, the project's chief engineer, told Xinhua, China's official news agency. Song claimed his buses, capable of transporting up to 1,400 commuters, could be produced for 20% of the price of an underground train and rolled out far more quickly since the supporting infrastructure was relatively simple. One TEB could replace 40 conventional buses, he said.You can watch the concept video here. Interestingly a very similar -- if not the exact same -- concept has come out of China before. Not sure what kind of developments have been made in the six years since then.

23 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Literally six years old, still not real/practical by cam_macleod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Old news. Just new hype.
    http://www.chinahush.com/2010/...

    Not a real thing, not practical in almost any area that needs high capacity transit, and just a distraction from real things we already know how to build but refuse to pay for.

  2. Um, moving walls? by holophrastic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, you're driving along, and all of a sudden, a wall appears around you, then vanishes, then appears again.

    Hope you brought your sun glasses, and removed them, and put them on again, with your psychic powers.

    Also hope you didn't plan on changing lanes, and weren't in the middle of doing so.

    It's not the same as 40 busses. 40 busses come 40 times as often. Now you get to wait for the big-ass bus 40 times as long. Perfect.

    How about just admitting that you can't fit more stuff into less space, and still have it usable. Archive-storage doesn't work for civilized humans -- intiguingly, it works far better for rural/country humans.

    1. Re:Um, moving walls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Has anybody actual read TFA? The underside of the bus is lit to match the environment. The bus is as wide as the road, so you don't change lanes outside the bus. The height is sufficient for a semi-trailer, so your SUV is safe. And the interior looks quite spacious.

    2. Re:Um, moving walls? by holophrastic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think you read it. It's a two-lane bus. On a three-lane road, it ain't the full width.

      As for the lighting, we don't believe it. You think they're going to put a light as bright as the sun? They mean sunny vs overcast vs night. They don't mean a celestial object.

      Clearly, your argument isn't worth anything, since you aren't willing to put your name to it.

    3. Re:Um, moving walls? by Livius · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's not meant to replace regular surface buses, it's meant to replace building a hugely expensive subway line.

    4. Re:Um, moving walls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      When there's too many straddling buses and they get backed up, then they'll make an even wider stradling bus stradling bus. That's why they're leaving the third lane.

    5. Re:Um, moving walls? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's straddle buses all the way down.

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    6. Re:Um, moving walls? by kellymcdonald78 · · Score: 2

      Yes, I know how I have horrible car accidents every time I drive under an overpass or into a tunnel

    7. Re:Um, moving walls? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 2

      There are other concerns as well. For instance, based on the video, they re-display traffic lights to people under the bus, that way they know when to stop at a red light, but that seems like it should be a non-problem, since every light rail system I've seen (which is what this really is, rather than a bus) was designed to co-opt the lights so that they turn green for it. If they do that, however, I could see this thing going along for miles and miles with people vying to stay under it in order to keep getting green lights the entire way, while a few unfortunate people remain trapped under there in the middle, wanting to take turns onto side streets along the way but unable to do so because of everyone jockeying to get under the bus and benefit from the green lights.

      And if it does stop at red lights, can I take a turn on red like I can at a normal intersection if I'm at the head of the line that's under it? I'm guessing not, since you're liable to get hit by it when the light turns green, so that means you'd need to sit there and wait for the entire bus to pass before making your turn.

      Maybe if this thing was going well above the speed limit and flipped lights to green along the way it could work better, but you'd still get situations like someone taking a turn across the rail and not seeing this thing coming from behind.

    8. Re:Um, moving walls? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      It's a two-lane bus. On a three-lane road, it ain't the full width.

      No it's a 2 lane bus on an irrelevant lane road, because that's what lane markings in most Chinese cities are. When there's even a slight amount of traffic buildup you'll typically find 4 or sometimes even 5 cars side by side in those 3 lanes honking at each other as they go.

      Even if this was a good idea it just isn't a good idea in China.

  3. Re:2 meters high. by OzPeter · · Score: 2

    Better not have anything on top of the SUV. Probably need guardrails too, to prevent people from driving into the sides of the bus.

    Also say goodbye to sharing roads with commercial vehicles - including normal buses.

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  4. Re:Hidden expense by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 2

    Cars will crash into the legs of this thing. Then the bus will crash down and kill people.

    FTFY

  5. Your horn by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bumper sticker on the bus says "Your horn will not make me produce stilts to lift myself out of your way."

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  6. Bridges? by coldsalmon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Looked like a good idea until I remembered that bridges exist. It would have to be at least 10 feet higher than the largest trucks, so it likely couldn't be used on any roads that have anything above them. Where I live, this is virtually all roads. However, in areas without a lot of bridges I could see this being a pretty good idea. For roads that ban trucks and also have no bridges, it would work best, but I'm not sure how common that is. Also, how the heck is it going to turn? I could see this working on some of the perfectly straight avenues in Manhattan, but you'd have to move the traffic lights. At least it's fun to think about!

  7. It's a tram/train not a bus by HumanWiki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's stuck to and rides upon rails. It's not a bus, it's a train or tram.

  8. Use space above roads? by PPH · · Score: 2

    Monorail. Problem solved.

    --
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  9. Re:2 meters high. by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not even my bike fits under that bus. And although a Whike is quite high, it is road legal and conforms to the traffic sizes (which are based on a firetruck where I live). 2 meters is way too low to be able to pass regular traffic. The first van or truck would stop the bus dead in its tracks.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  10. Re:Literally six years old, still not real/practic by Lumpy · · Score: 2

    And bad hype. Look at the renders, they did not even bother rendering a simulation, the whole thing bends around the corner instead of the segments.

    It will never exist, they do not have the tech to build it and they miss an important part... like how does traffic EXIT and ENTER the roadway?

    What makes more sense is simply build a traditional elevated train or monorail. Instead they want to build this unservicable monstrosity.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  11. Re:2 meters high. by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Probably need guardrails too, to prevent people from driving into the sides of the bus.

    Other videos I've seen have shown it running on raised rails that run all along either side of the ride.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  12. Re:Literally six years old, still not real/practic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fuck the nimbys.

    But not in their own back yard...

  13. Re:Hidden expense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Cars can easily crash into regular buses too, yet we still have both cars and buses.

  14. Re:2 meters high. by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    That's WAY more expensive than just repainting some lines on the road.

  15. Re:2 meters high. by ljw1004 · · Score: 2

    Not even my bike fits under that bus. And although a Whike is quite high, it is road legal and conforms to the traffic sizes (which are based on a firetruck where I live). 2 meters is way too low to be able to pass regular traffic. The first van or truck would stop the bus dead in its tracks.

    If the bus runs on surface streets (like they do today) then it will be stopped dead in its tracks by a whike, van and truck. So this proposal is clearly no worse than the status quo.

    But this bus won't take space away from other vehicles, and won't be stopped by regular cars. So this proposal is clearly better than the status quo in the majority of situations.