China Builds 'Elevated Bus' That Drives Over Cars (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Remember that futuristic bus design from China a few months ago? China has actually built it and is testing it on the streets. The Transit Elevated Bus or TEB-1, as it's called, stands nearly 16 feet tall and straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to pass under it. The hope is for TEB-1 to someday alleviate major traffic in China and other crowded countries. Washington Post reports: "The Transit Elevated Bus piloted in China's Hebei province rolls along a designated track, making it similar in some ways to a commuter train or tram -- the key difference, of course, being that it runs on top of the existing roadway without the need to construct a separate overpass. Images distributed by Chinese media show a spacious passenger compartment -- measuring 72 feet long by 26 feet wide -- capable of holding up to 300 riders. Surprisingly, there are not very many seats. That would probably have to change should an American model ever come to fruition." The concept of the elevated bus first arrived in 2010, where the company claimed it would "cost 10% of a subway system and use 30% less energy than current bus technologies."

Comments

How do you take a turn?

[Edis Krad]

I still can't wrap my head around the idea of turning when you're stuck under that beast. I imagine there would have to changes to traffic law to fix that. Let the behemoth pass over you first before you can take a left or right.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Harlequin80]

Lol. If you ever go to China then you will understand that written road rules don't really seem to matter. There is a definite attitude of biggest gets right of way. If you get hit by this thing you are going to be the one in trouble.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[goombah99]

What if you have a dozen crates of chickens on top of your car?

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Harlequin80]

You don't see that inside the centre of major cities where these are likely to be used.

That said Beijing roads are really really weird. They have these massive roads right through the middle but no traffic. First time I went there my wife asked if we had missed the zombie apocalypse because the place felt empty. Their metro on the other hand was packed like no where else I have seen.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this thing only drives in the middle lanes so there shouldnt be a need for cars to turn left/right into sides street, just turning change lanes. Most heavy vehicles like semis and buses have a "do not overtake turning vehicle" sign and most people know not to turn in front of them unless there is a heap of space so sharing the roads with these elevated buses shouldn't be that much different to adjust to.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[gijoel]

It doesn't matter what new laws you institute for this sort of thing. People are still going to plow straight into the sides of that bus.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

"I think this thing only drives in the middle lanes so there shouldn't be a need for cars to turn left/right into side streets, just turning to change lanes."

I notice from the photos the elevated buses have their own traffic lights too.

I think more concerning is that tall vehicles like trucks and vans are still going to hold up traffic as there isn't much height underneath the buses. And you look at places like the US, UK and Australia where you still get morons who ignore height signs and wedge their vehicles under bridges.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Darinbob]

It's a lot like electric light rail. You don't turn when one is in the way.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

The illustrations and video shown elsewhere show that it's at least the height of a minivan, it may actually be taller, or there may be specific truck routes we're not aware of.

Given I think China might have a different way of thinking about transit, so maybe these are "business frontage" routes that trucks don't go down, and the buses have their own "guideway" built into the road. Because what this really is, is a reverse "elevated" subway. Instead of having permanent tracks and guideway, you move the guideway instead of the car. Works great unless driven by humans and having to deal with human-driven traffic that might get stuck underneath.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[bzn]

In the mock-up video they released, the traffic lights on the leading edge showed it preventing anyone from entering before it went over an intersection, but also any traffic that was already inside released before it moved off. Quite a nifty way of handling it I think.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[tigersha]

My questions is, what happen to any overhead cables/lamps/whatever? There are still lots of those around.

Cool idea though

Re:How do you take a turn?

[RogueyWon]

My main worry about the concept is in the response it might provoke from drivers. I know that here in the UK, we have regulations regarding the proximity of busy roads to the ends of runways, not particularly because of any risk of aircraft hitting road vehicles, but rather primarily because of the "flinch" reaction that the sudden appearance of a very low aircraft overhead might produce in drivers.

Humans tend to reach to the sudden appearance of large things immediately above their heads. Even a momentary flinch-reaction from drivers can be dangerous for other traffic.

I'm not saying that this concept can't work, but rather that I would have hoped there would be fairly extensive off-road testing of it before deploying it in a "live" situation.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stuff turning - imaging simply driving in a straight line and this f*cker starts driving over you. Not distracting in the slightest! Nope!

I imagine if someone isn't paying attention in thier car and this things side suddenly appears on your left/right side, that you may instinctively swerve to avoid it

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

En China we uze bicycle! I grew up widout a fader, because he wah a basdard. I learn kungfu young age and come to America where I buy car Toyota from Japan. On highway, I no uze turn signal and come over from far left lane to far right lane widout any nodice, witch seem to piss off all humans. I ride Elevated Bus now and make it dangerously safer.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably removed when the rail is built. It's not like the path this "bus" will take isn't known.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[MitchDev]

And let's not forget pickup trucks, SUVs, vans, trucks, and tall people on bikes....

Re:How do you take a turn?

[antdude]

Or in USA and many other countries. Asians can't drive. :P

Re:How do you take a turn?

[hattig]

Most likely at stops the elevated bus would proceed before the vehicles underneath.

Still, there are so many issues with the concept and design apart from turning when the vehicle is blocking your exit that this will likely only ever live in select cities that match the use case.

  - existing straight city grids (otherwise you would new-build with trams/light-rail, which has a benefit of being able to turn corners).
  - no subways (as these work and don't block the roads).
  - a city government willing to ban tall vehicles from the routes they run on - i.e., these would be car-only routes, until people design low-height freight transporters to feed the city's retail and food outlets.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[hattig]

It's cheaper to refactor roadside equipment (even installing concrete barriers for the self-guiding bus wheels) than to install a subway.

IIRC the bus has lighting underneath for road traffic.

However the bus would surely be blocking the view of the signs and lights for the cars, although as it would leave first that might not be a big problem.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, we know a Tesla will go right under it with no problems.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[AmiMoJo]

They are building in the infrastructure to handle the traffic they expect in the future. Forward planning and all that. It's something that the west can't really do because the economic/commercial benefit of doing it today isn't great enough, but China thinks about the longer term.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

Lol. If you ever go to China then you will understand that written road rules don't really seem to matter. There is a definite attitude of biggest gets right of way. If you get hit by this thing you are going to be the one in trouble.

This. A million times this. I've been to China. It's one scary place to be in an automobile. A few years ago I was in Shanghai and I took a taxi from my hotel to the airport. It was a fairly long drive, maybe 40 minutes, and a good chunk of it was on a 6 lane (each direction) highway. It was maybe around 10:30 AM and since the airport is, like in many major cities, actually fairly far away from the city center and kind of in the middle of nowhere, there weren't a lot of cars on the road at the time. My taxi driver was fine but the other drivers were most assuredly not. I saw people talking on mobile phones and some woman putting on makeup and many cars swerving back and forth between multiple lanes without a care in the world. My driver couldn't speak English and I can't speak Mandarin, but it was obvious that he wasn't happy with what he was seeing either. I've also spent time in Guangdong province in the south where my (at the time) girlfriend's brother-in-law drove us around. He was fine but traffic there is chaotic. You'll see intersections of multiple roads with no traffic signs or lights and it's every car for itself. There are videos on YouTube of really scary near misses in China where someone will avoid death at the hands of another driver by the slimmest of margins. I'm not so much worried about this bus crashing as I am wondering what will happen when some careless driver crashes into it when driving underneath it.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[mysidia]

I imagine there would have to changes to traffic law to fix that.

Mount red traffic lights on the undercarriage, and on longarms extending out a car-length ahead of the vehicle, so people know they are not allowed to turn while the vehicle is moving over them.

Also, speed limit the busses to 5 to 10mph.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Except for the Mandarin part, that sounds exactly like driving in Massachusetts. And while there are traffic control devices here, nobody seems to have any idea what they mean or how right of way works. And scary near misses? I have one every couple of years. So yeah, pretty much exactly like driving in Massachusetts.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[AgNO3]

Maybe go watch the research videos that actual show modelling of how it deals with stops, turning, and intersections. https://youtu.be/jNyEi1xMyvo about 2/3rd down for what you want to see. Pretty cool.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Major Cities" being the operative word.

Most, like 95%, of Chinese cities are over 1million ppl and have no subways.. so its clogged with cars, ebikes and busses.

Taking a buss trip in a tier 3 city on a nice hot summer day... it is not as fun as it sounds.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

"And let's not forget pickup trucks, SUVs, vans, trucks, and tall people on bikes...."

That's strictly a US problem, other countries drive normal cars.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[tomhath]

It's something that the west can't really do because the economic/commercial benefit of doing it today isn't great enough

The main holdup in the US is something called "private property". Yes, you can take it by eminent domain, but that's really difficult and always involves long legal battles.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[drinkypoo]

It's something that the west can't really do because the economic/commercial benefit of doing it today isn't great enough, but China thinks about the longer term.

What? Surely you jest. China is operating like any corporation and focusing on the short term. They are polluting the fuck out of the planet which will have long-term consequences. They are building infrastructure whose future use depends on endless growth, which is unsustainable — hence why so much of it is lying unused. Ask Spain how that's worked out for them. None of this separates them from most other nations, but they are most certainly not planning for the future.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Type44Q]

Here in Colorado, if you put on your turn signal to indicate a lane change and some cocksucker speeds up for no reason other than to cut you off, there's a really good chance the car'll have a Massachusetts plate (NJ and FL are close seconds)...

Re:How do you take a turn?

[AmiMoJo]

That's kind of what I was getting at, although I'd point out that Japan has private property and a democratic government and still managed to build infrastructure better than most western countries.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Colorado, nobody seems to be able to read the "Keep right except to pass" signs that are posted every mile. While many of them have California plates (and can't seem to wrap their head around the concept of "other people besides themselves exist"), most of them are locals. The passing lane is pretty much just the permanent "slow as shit pickup truck and luxury car lane" and you need to use the right lane to actually overtake another car.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

This happens everywhere, people are assholes.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Dr_Terminus]

I also live in Colorado (but spent most of my life in the Midwest). I have to say that Colorado drivers are horrible. I see Colorado plates doing the exact thing you describe above, as well as a myriad of other idiotic things all the time. And for a state that gets a fair amount of snow, it is unforgivable how bad people here drive in the snow.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[gfxguy]

What could possibly go wrong?

Re: How do you take a turn?

[kenh]

Which is it, China or Japan?

They are building in the infrastructure to handle the traffic they expect in the future. Forward planning and all that. It's something that the west can't really do because the economic/commercial benefit of doing it today isn't great enough, but China thinks about the longer term.

Then you said:

That's kind of what I was getting at, although I'd point out that Japan has private property and a democratic government and still managed to build infrastructure better than most western countries.

They are't interchangeable, As far as property rights, democratic government, or infrastructure.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

> They are polluting the fuck out of the planet which will have long-term consequences.

This has been done, among others, by UK, USA, Japan, Korea. It's called "development".

> They are building infrastructure whose future use depends on endless growth, which is unsustainable

This I agree more with. I mean last I read about the subject China had like 900 million still living in poverty. I guess the infrastructure is for when they eventually move up to the middle class as the country develops, but getting that many people into the middle class would entail *SO* much energy... Kind of like the US and Europe combined, which is about 50% of what the world uses.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[AmiMoJo]

What I mean is that China can plan because it's not a democracy, but having said that there are other democracies (Japan) that do far better than the west so merely being a democracy and having private ownership isn't the only factor.

And by the way, China has private ownership too.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[raddan]

I'm not sure that you don't see that. The last time I was in Beijing, I took a photo of an intersection that included:

1. A modern jet flying overhead.
2. A modern train (light rail?) passing through.
3. Numerous cars and trucks.
4. A vast quantity of people on bicycles, some of whom were hauling mind-boggling amounts of stuff.
5. At least one rickshaw.
6. A cart, full of fresh vegetables, drawn by a donkey, pretty much in the middle of the intersection.
7. And, of course, many pedestrians.

I was disappointed that there wasn't water nearby, because having a boat in that picture would have been great. Anyway, the variety of modes of transportation---modern and old---was kind of amazing.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[gfxguy]

I've lived in NY, Nevada (and drove to CA a number of times), GA, FL, have driven across country a number of times, and generally put around 20k miles on my car every year.... trust me, people, drivers are terrible everywhere. They don't follow the rules/mores of the road, slower traffic doesn't keep right, everywhere you go there might be the occasional driver that lets someone signaling in without causing a problem, but you're just as likely (maybe more) to get a douchebag who closes up the gap; people don't signal, some people driving below the limit are in one of the left lanes, while copious numbers of speeders are in the right (probably because of the former), people wait until the last second to move over from the left to their very busy exit on the right, causing lane slowdowns every step of the way (and cumulatively that's what causes slow-and-go and stop-and-go traffic at a single exit on a six or seven lane highway). People purposely cause gridlock because they don't want to wait for the next cycle, they're not paying attention when the light turns green (causing any number of people to miss it in heavy traffic).

Some of these things are the results of others - people don't signal because, when they do, people close the gap. Then they get in the habit of just not signaling. If you think people should signal, you should always let them in when they do.... encourage good behaviors, don't punish them.

People go fast in the right lanes because others are going slow in the left lanes. People cut in lines because there are far too many people who don't pay attention and make the lines go slower (and leave large gaps in front of them, encouraging the bad behavior). The worse thing I see, by far, only because it's so obvious and so selfish are the people causing gridlock - but even then there are the cases where, if you don't, you might not ever be able to go (at least until the end of rush hour).

Let's face it - we've created our own bad traffic problems, and while law enforcement might help (I've never seen anyone get a ticket for causing gridlock or passing on the right, or going slow in the left lanes), people are generally anti-law enforcement because they might enforce other laws they don't want to get a ticket for (like speeding). And you will never get everyone on the same page about how to drive - and all it takes is one in 500 on a busy roadway (like city interstates during rush hour) to royally screw up traffic, causing people to have to go around and generally fubarring things. That's all it takes, but the actual number of douchebags is more like 1 in 10.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[gfxguy]

When the government can take your home using eminent domain for the purposes of getting more tax dollars from private businesses, I don't see why it's an issue of using eminent domain for how it was actually intended.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Japan, China, etc can plan and get stuff done better because they still have lot of patriarchy retained from their past.

When the rulers (mostly men) want something done, the rest obediently oblige. Even in a democracy, the masses obediently trust in their leaders and give them their vote, just as they're told to.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[painandgreed]

I took a taxi from my hotel to the airport. It was a fairly long drive, maybe 40 minutes, and a good chunk of it was on a 6 lane (each direction) highway. It was maybe around 10:30 AM and since the airport is, like in many major cities, actually fairly far away from the city center and kind of in the middle of nowhere, there weren't a lot of cars on the road at the time. My taxi driver was fine but the other drivers were most assuredly not. I saw people talking on mobile phones and some woman putting on makeup and many cars swerving back and forth between multiple lanes without a care in the world. My driver couldn't speak English and I can't speak Mandarin, but it was obvious that he wasn't happy with what he was seeing either.

Sounds exactly like my last trip to Dallas.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

With road signs, yeah, it looks like it'll be a definite problem, though most people driving in these cities either know the roads really well, or are using GPS so I don't think that the navigation aspect will be too much of an issue. In the pictures of this monstrosity, it looks like there are a set of red, yellow, and green lights behind the bus to indicate what the upcoming traffic signal is supposed to be.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Biggest dip fucks I've seen are west coast and CO. Bunch of entitled fucking morons on the road.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Harlequin80]

Partially this. But also they have banned cars on alternate days in beijing dependent on your number plate. Even numbers 1 day odds the next. This has meant everyone has had to plan around not being able to drive in 2 or 3 days a week.

The only exception to this is if your vehicle is electric. It was amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of electric scooters with chargers everywhere.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[Harlequin80]

Fair enough. I was in beijing in march as well as in Guanzhou for work for 3 weeks. In the main business districts I only saw vehicles and pedestrians. Outside of the centre though and it because a mix of anything. I particularly like the little trike things with the ute back.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a new thing now. People who slow down and leave a very large buffer in front of them - they are checking their messages or texting on their phone. Then suddenly speed up for a bit. Then slow down and leave half a mile in front of them again.

Re:How do you take a turn?

[RespekMyAthorati]

I'm figuring that this would mostly be used on freeways, so the uber-bus can go ahead and ignore traffic jams while being much cheaper than overhead rail.

Re: How do you take a turn?

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

It definitely happens more often in some states though. I rarely had that problem driving in OH or IN; I've had it happen quite frequently in NJ and parts of NY.

Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is everyone calling this thing a "bus"? It runs on *tracks* built into the sides of the road. Isn't that more like a train or a streetcar or something?

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

First thing I thought as well. It's a tram you can drive under.

That said it does look pretty cool but there doesn't look to be that much clearance under the thing (perspective of the people at the front doesn't help with this) and unless it is running on straight tracks I imagine they would need some kind of underground/elevated intersection to handle making corners (otherwise what happens to the guys underneath you).

All the above aside, props to the engineers, it looks cool ;)

Re:Terminology

[aaarrrgggh]

At 2m clearance below, I guess they are trying to make sure it can get under existing bridges. Speeds up deployment time, but a pretty big compromise for now. Another 50cm would really make it less scary though...

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. You have the most +5 Informative worthy comment.

The word "bus" makes the Left gush from their everywhere. That's why the Washington Post uses that term. As click-bait for leftists.

Re:Terminology

[Sique]

Why do you think a bus cannot run on rails?

In Europe, rail-bound busses are very common, they are actually called railbusses.

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Well yes you are indeed technically correct.

But generally speaking I think this thing looks more like a tram/street-car than a bus. Most buses (even the ones getting electrical charge from the street or over head wires have rubber wheels running on the same road as other cars/lorries/trucks. And most trams/trains have metal wheels running along metal tracks.

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Austin, it isn't a bus unless there is a group of hobos using a good part of it as their living room, bedroom, and bathroom, and the bus smells to some degree of piss.

Re:Terminology

[Sique]

Technologically, the railbusses are derived from regular busses, not street cars or trains. They just use steel wheels and don't have active steering. On the other hand, there are so many inbetweens from railbound trains to roadbound cars, that an arbitrary rule like "if it has steel wheels, it's a train" don't make any sense. There are trains which run on rubber tires along concrete rails like the Alweg Monorails, or Lyon's Metro Line D, which are clearly trains. On the other hand, there are real busses running on concrete rails, so called guided bus systems.

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

The "Micheline" was a kind of bus with specially-designed rubber-tyres running on rails in the 30's in France (image).

The exact opposite as this proposed design.

Re:Terminology

[Imrik]

Odd, around here the leftists prefer "train" despite it being less cost efficient and less flexible than buses.

Re:Terminology

[gsslay]

Buses are a contentious political hot topic. Who knew?

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Trains hold many many many many more people than buses, they don't spew diesel fumes inside urban areas (as most urban train lines are electric), and they don't compete with already limited road space. That's why successful cities have major rail networks, both above and below ground.

What do 'rightists' prefer?

Re:Terminology

[Imrik]

Trains can hold many more people, electric buses don't spew diesel fumes, and, around here, the trains take up space that would have been roads otherwise.

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

Pickup Trucks

Re:Terminology

[fisted]

I'd say if it has one degree of freedom, it's a train.

Re:Terminology

[serviscope_minor]

Odd, around here the leftists prefer "train" despite it being less cost efficient and less flexible than buses.

Well around here (London) that's a non partisan view. There simply is not the road capacity to move everyone to everywhere they want to go. You can preach party politics all you like but they get ignored pretty fast when you're stuck on Tooting bloody high street at arf four in the bloody afternoon innit.

Re:Terminology

[nospam007]

"The "Micheline" [wikipedia.org] was a kind of bus with specially-designed rubber-tyres running on rails in the 30's in France (image [wikipedia.org])."

Not only there, in many countries there are rubber-tyred Metros, even in the US, like f.ex: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, San Francisco.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:Terminology

[Sique]

A guided bus system is no train. It's just busses, slightly adapted so they can be passively steered in the concrete rails. If the concrete rails end, it's a normal bus with normal steering.

Re:Terminology

[drinkypoo]

Odd, around here the leftists prefer "train" despite it being less cost efficient and less flexible than buses.

Buses shit all over traffic patterns for everyone else. Rails don't. Tires shed rubber all over the city for everyone to breathe, and to wash into waterways when it goes down the storm drains. Rails don't. A little rapidly-oxidized steel is no big deal, and there's a lot less loss of mass there to begin with. Buses work where you have hills and can't build on contour so they have purposes but rail is superior any place it's feasible. You can use rail without trains, or you can have short trains, but rail is superior to road for public transit that keeps going to the same places. Rail falls down where you have low utilization, so you don't use it there. It's better everywhere else.

Re: Terminology

[Type44Q]

...at arf four in the bloody afternoon innit.

This may come as a bit of a surprise but we expect even the English to speak English...

Re:Terminology

[The-Ixian]

Well yes you are indeed technically correct./quote.

The best kind of correct.

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

... around here, the trains take up space that would have been roads otherwise.

Roads, with which the addition of, I'm sure would totally help with the congestion issue in a densely populated city has congestion issues due to the many automobiles driving through it. So what's our solution then? Let's build more roads in these cities so we can have more cars and trucks driving though them. Who needs a rail system where each rail car has about a 1:18 higher rider capacity than a typical car, right?

Re:Terminology

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US, if you choose the correct type of bus, you get labeled a communist.

Re:Terminology

[Imrik]

Or they could have been a bus only lane for the same capacity at a fraction of the cost, with the added benefit of being able to be used for cars in the event of an accident or other emergency.

Re: Terminology

[serviscope_minor]

u wot m8? you must be avin a larf innit. Don't get yer knickers in a twist.

Mopving Tunnels

[Anonymous Coward]

Now at least 500% more fear brake inducing than stationary tunnels!

We've seen this before...

[__aaclcg7560]

Remember that futuristic bus design from China a few months ago?

Wasn't this bus in one of the Harry Potter movies?

Re:We've seen this before...

[roman_mir]

I don't know about Harry Potter, but I do remember Benny the Cab from Who Framed Roger Rabbit doing this stunt...

Seems like

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly the kind of government pork projects that we undertake in the USA. Except it would take 11 years and tens if billions of taxpayer dollars to get the pilot off the ground, which would fail miserably, then be abandoned.

Re:Seems like

[speedplane]

Exactly the kind of government pork projects that we undertake in the USA. Except it would take 11 years and tens if billions of taxpayer dollars to get the pilot off the ground, which would fail miserably, then be abandoned.

China today is like the U.S. in the 40s to 70s. And I mean that in a good way.

Re:Seems like

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly the kind of government pork projects that we undertake in the USA. Except it would take 11 years and tens if billions of taxpayer dollars to get the pilot off the ground, which would fail miserably, then be abandoned.

And waste that tens of billions of dollars that should have been used to repair existing infrastructure.

Re:Seems like

[someone1234]

At least, in China, they don't falsely accuse people with Communism :D

Re:Seems like

[peragrin]

In china they falsely accuse people of capitalism. :D

If a businessman become es to rich and doesn't show proper party support he vanishes. In the last year 2 or 3 Chinese billionaires vanished without a trace and all their assets confidently going back to the government.

Re:Seems like

[Imrik]

That's so not true, it would fail miserably and continue running anyway.

Re:Seems like

[chispito]

China today is like the U.S. in the 40s to 70s. And I mean that in a good way.

They wear fedoras with bell bottoms?

Dupe from 6 years ago

[Joe_Dragon]

https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...

Re:Dupe from 6 years ago

[rxmd]

That was the design stage, now they've actually built it.

Re:Dupe from 6 years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

Also dupe from about 2 months ago: China Unveils 'Straddling Bus' Design To Beat Traffic Jams

Re:Dupe from 6 years ago

[creepynut]

Hm, maybe they should have linked to that in the summary! /s

Re:Dupe from 6 years ago

[Big Hairy Ian]

That was a computer simulation & a scale model! This is now driving on the road in China

What can go wrong

[Joe_Dragon]

What can go wrong and just wait for a multi way upper and lower traffic light to go in to blanking red mode

Re:What can go wrong

[ripvlan]

I was thinking more like getting run over by this thing. How often are cars exactly in their lane? Or bike riders/pedestrians.

The idea that running rails down roads is better than elevated trains is interesting. Maybe it is cheaper - but sure seems dangerous.

This thing still has to wait in traffic. If a car is trying to change lanes and is stuck waiting to merge the train can't pass over them. I seriously wonder whether this thing will be better in practice.

Re: What can go wrong

[Type44Q]

Is this a question or a statement?

Re:What can go wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

From the demo/simulation videos, it looks like that they plan on having this thing ride on a partially isolated road lane. So I'm under the impression that they only plan to expose this thing at a large 4-way intersection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNyEi1xMyvo&feature=youtu.be

Not surprised

[Snotnose]

Typical tech from a country that thinks shaving 10% off the commuting time is worth killing 3-4 people a month cuz your fancy bus killed some fellow motorists.

I'm just surprised China isn't charging the victims for extra wear on their tires.

Re:Not surprised

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think it's a major selling point as much as it's simply an extra potential side benefit. China, where especially in their major cities, has major over crowding with very limited space. I see this as the Chinese trying to find ways of getting ahead of their already existing human-transportation-throughput issues (which is already pretty bad) before it gets worse, as it surely will. With that being said, I don't think that there's a single form of transportation that can claim a 0% mortality rate, so why should this be any different? Provided they can keep that rate either at about, or below, comparable forms of transportation, while increasing throughput, not contributing to additional traffic, and make more efficient use of space in a very densely populated area, I think that would be acceptable. This is by no means a perfect solution and already has a list of draw backs and issues facing it. The people who made this system will no doubt have much to learn after letting this thing operate in its initial weeks.

Re:Not surprised

[Snotnose]

Hmmm. Idathunk the pollution would take care of that overpopulation problem. Then again, the pollution takes 20-30 years to work, whereas getting crushed by some stupid-ass bus on the highway takes 20-30 minutes to work.

My bad, I'm not really capable of imagining scenarios where human life doesn't matter.

Re:Not surprised

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical tech from a country that thinks shaving 10% off the commuting time is worth killing 3-4 people a month cuz your fancy bus killed some fellow motorists.

Well, plain old cars kill a lot of people per month - shaving time off commuting time . . .

Re: Not surprised

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you wear a helmet and life jacket when you drive your car to work? No? Then you are ok with death by head trauma or drowning in low probability scenarios. Same thing.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Chinese Elevated Bus versus The Grave Digger, this weekend only at the fairgrounds and some damn arena somewhere. Monster Truck Madness! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

Re: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Came in here to say that Murica did it first. Monster Jam baby!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XHa6LIUJTPw

Dirty American model

[Anonymous Coward]

"... should an American model ever come to fruition."
Given the unhygienic condition of most of American public transport(with Americans defecating and urinating all over them), it is better this does not come to USA.
Always surprised that Americans here mention the unhygienic nature of Indian public places, whenever India come up here, but they always forget American public transport and habits of American citizens, are no better.

-
Will get voted down for pointing out facts

Re:Dirty American model

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US it's only the homeless or mentally ill who do that. In some other countries, it seems many people find it ok to relieve themselves where ever they are.

Re: Dirty American model

[Type44Q]

Given the unhygienic condition of most of American public transport (with Americans defecating and urinating all over them)

Replace "America" with "China" and your spot-on. Only one flaw in your propaganda; not bad for a shill.

Are they retarded or just trolling?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is new meta.

Fit over a Semi? Or under an overpass?

[walterbyrd]

Can it make a 90 degree turn?

Re: Fit over a Semi? Or under an overpass?

[Anonymous Coward]

Celsius or fahrenheit?

Re:Fit over a Semi? Or under an overpass?

[caseih]

No to the first question. Since it follows a set track, I imagine they lay track wherever it can go. To the third question, the answer is yes, if the track makes a right-hand turn. One of the videos showed that, though it's not clear to me the mechanism that makes the bus flexible like a tram, especially being so wide.

Re:Fit over a Semi? Or under an overpass?

[xession]

If you look at the image, you can see that each wheel set is on an overhead bearing and then then two wheel sets are joined together with another overhead bearing. This should make this pretty maneuverable. If it were on a flat pad, I'd fully expect it to be able to turn 360-degrees in place.

Does it drive under bridges?

[Anonymous Coward]

whoops

Re:Does it drive under bridges?

[93 Escort Wagon]

Once.

straddle

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember that futuristic drumpf design from China a few months ago? China has actually built it and is testing it on the streets. The Transit Elevated Drumpf or TED-1, as it's called, stands nearly 16 feet tall and straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to pass under it. The hope is for TED-1 to someday alleviate major traffic in China and other crowded countries. Washington Drumpf reports: "The Transit Elevated Drumpf piloted in China's Drumpf province rolls along a designated track, making it similar in some ways to a commuter drumpf or drumpf -- the key difference, of course, being that it runs on top of the existing roadway without the need to construct a separate overpass. Images distributed by Chinese media show a spacious drumpf compartment -- measuring 72 feet long by 26 feet wide -- capable of holding up to 300 drumpfs. Surprisingly, there are not very many seats. That would probably have to change should an American model ever come to fruition."
The concept of the elevated drumpf first arrived in 2010, where the company claimed it would "cost 10% of a subdrumpf system and use 30% less energy than current drumpf technologies."

I don't see how this saves money

[93 Escort Wagon]

You have the expense of laying track, plus the expense of producing a very small number of these extremely specialized vehicles. Why not lay track and run a mass-produced light rail train or streetcar on it instead?

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[speedplane]

You have the expense of laying track, plus the expense of producing a very small number of these extremely specialized vehicles.

There is a lot to criticize in this project, but the pace in which China can take crazy ideas, add manufacturing innovation, and put them into the real world is pretty spectacular.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[skam240]

Because this is far more space efficient as it runs over existing infastructure rather than replacing or taking up even more space.

Your slashdot signature says it all here btw :).

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not lay track and run a mass-produced light rail train or streetcar on it instead?

Or you could do ride sharing, which is both cheaper and more efficient. I'll bet some private company here in the United States is already doing that, if only I could think of the name? Oh well, whatever would we do without government bureaucrats to come up with all of these wonderful new ideas? It should be ready by 2050 and I can hardly wait! My tax dollars at work!

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a lot to criticize in this project, but the pace in which China can take crazy ideas, add manufacturing innovation, and put them into the real world is pretty spectacular.

Yeah, there might be some downsides to living in that society, but hey what do we Americans know about it, right? Of course, being able to tell the citizens what to do while they have no say in it whatsoever is the wet dream of leftists everywhere. What could possibly go wrong?

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[93 Escort Wagon]

Because this is far more space efficient as it runs over existing infastructure rather than replacing or taking up even more space.

Your slashdot signature says it all here btw :).

Actually in this instance I had read this article and looked at the photo. I'm not convinced the support structure (x2) ends up being all that much narrower than a light rail train or streetcar.

This behemoth doesn't hover - the support structures still require tracks, which either means additional pavement gets laid or else existing pavement gets repurposed. This is the same as with a streetcar or light rail - they can share right of way with existing roads.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[larryjoe]

There is a lot to criticize in this project, but the pace in which China can take crazy ideas, add manufacturing innovation, and put them into the real world is pretty spectacular.

It's definitely a crazy idea, but not necessarily more crazy than the hyperloop. China is to be applauded for trying a crazy new idea, which hopefully will allow them to observe and improve any significant deficiencies.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[skam240]

You can't be serious.

Anyone whose seen rail in action knows it takes multiple lanes worth of traffic space to operate safely. Sure, you still need safe boarding areas and room for the tracks for this but the bulk of the machine operates above existing roadways. The passengers are carried above roadways thus all of the cabin space (the bulk of a mass transit machine) is absorbed by elevated space that doesnt impact the surrounding areas.

I'm not saying the concept is flawless but on this point I don't understand the doubt.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[Kjella]

You have the expense of laying track, plus the expense of producing a very small number of these extremely specialized vehicles. Why not lay track and run a mass-produced light rail train or streetcar on it instead?

Lack of space, number of crossings required. This looks like an attempt to make a cheap subway, going above instead of going below. You will have all the annoyances of a tram line though, one car stuck in the tracks, an accident or such and you're blocked. On the other hand, if they jam full that bus like the Japanese do it could transport a helluva lot of people.

Re: I don't see how this saves money

[Anonymous Coward]

We leave the chinks alone for 5 minutes and this is the dumb shit they decide to build.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[PPH]

one car stuck in the tracks, an accident or such and you're blocked

But most countries don't screw around with stalled cars and accidents like we do. They don't have half the police force standing around the site for half a day with their hands in their pockets. They get the people (or bodies) out, bring up a front loader or other large truck, push the disabled car into the ditch or up on a curb and get traffic moving again.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[danbob999]

because it is going to be blocked by traffic? This is an alternative to elevated trains or subways... both much more expensive.

Re: I don't see how this saves money

[Anonymous Coward]

Ride sharing doesn't solve the problem of a bus as you still end up being with other people. The who idea of cars is that no one I don't know is in it. Keep other people out of sound and visual reach and now you have a solution to public transportation.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[luis_a_espinal]

You have the expense of laying track, plus the expense of producing a very small number of these extremely specialized vehicles. Why not lay track and run a mass-produced light rail train or streetcar on it instead?

The Chinese government does not operate on simple premises of saving money. They are willing (and are capable) to run projects on the red for decades if they believe it is necessary to accommodate change or boost economic output. Just look at all the infrastructure projects connecting Shenzhen, Guangzhou and all the other metropolis in the Pearl River Delta (I don't remember where I saw it that the infrastructure will run in red for two decades.)

And how about the planned Jing-Jin-Ji megapolis (and I know people in the west laugh at China, all too willing to forget how they used to laugh at Japan in the 60's.)

Every once in a while we see similar willingness in the US to undertake projects that run on red for a while, but which end up giving a greater ROI. The Florida Turnpike is a good example.

Infrastructure pays. It almost always does. The Chinese are being very bold about it (and they can afford a loss or two). Their long term vision and investment will pay. Mark my words.

Re:I don't see how this saves money

[blackanvil]

Seriously. The other day a limited access highway I use for my commute here in Virginia was shut down entirely in one direction, traffic sent on a detour through the local streets and traffic backed up for miles in both directions, due to someone's bike having fallen off a vehicle and landed in the road. There was a cop taking pictures, with dozens of those little evidence markers, a children's bike in the middle of the road, and several other cops blocking the road and redirecting traffic, for what should have been a "pick it up and let traffic move on" situation. During the evening rush hour, I should add.

Street Car

[Ryanrule]

This is more an elevated streetcar. It runs on tracks.

Kapew

[fluffernutter]

What happened to all the Slashdotters that INSISTED that THIS COULD NOT BE DONE? Did their heads explode before they could comment?

Re:Kapew

[Anonymous Coward]

This will get stuck behind trucks and vans.

Re:Kapew

[Anonymous Coward]

This will get stuck behind trucks and vans.

Hell, I've seen pickup trucks bigger than this Chinese bus in Texas.

Re:Kapew

[6Yankee]

They're right here INSISTING that well, okay okay, it got built, but IT'LL NEVER WORK! Because turns and trucks and bridges and all KINDS of DUH OBVIOUS real-world stuff (not that they've ever seen it, holed up their moms' basements) that those stupid "engineers" CLEARLY haven't thought about before pissing away MILLIONS on this thing!

In other words, a normal day on Slashdot. :)

Re:Kapew

[Imrik]

To be fair, they're used to dealing with American projects.

Re:Kapew

[Anonymous Coward]

What happened to all the Slashdotters that INSISTED that THIS COULD NOT BE DONE? Did their heads explode before they could comment?

There's a difference between "can't be done" and "it's a stupid idea and shouldn't be done".

Re:Kapew

[gsslay]

You don't understand. The average slashdotter can envisage things in 1 min's consideration that 100s of Chinese engineers will simply not think of in years of work.

Re:Kapew

[Trailer Trash]

They're right here INSISTING that well, okay okay, it got built, but IT'LL NEVER WORK! Because turns and trucks and bridges and all KINDS of DUH OBVIOUS real-world stuff (not that they've ever seen it, holed up their moms' basements) that those stupid "engineers" CLEARLY haven't thought about before pissing away MILLIONS on this thing!

In other words, a normal day on Slashdot. :)

Honestly, all of those things *are* problems. But the problems won't get solved (or the whole thing shown to be a major debacle) without building it and playing around with it. This is v 0.9, give them some time to work out the kinks and see how the rest of the city interacts with it. Another problem I see is the fact that all seating is on the second floor, meaning the elderly and handicapped are going to have a harder time of it. But, again, they're not done, they're just getting started.

At least they're trying *something*.

Re:Kapew

[6Yankee]

Exactly, build a prototype and see if it works well enough to make demolishing bridges elsewhere worth it.

The stations are clearly elevated much as you would have with an overhead monorail, etc., in which case lifts/ramps are doable for access. Even though everyone's calling it a bus, I see this less as a replacement for a regular city bus with stops every block, more for a metro system with a relatively limited number of stops.

Re:Kapew

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just build a monorail?

Monorail

MONORAIL!

Re:Kapew

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps because they are mostly Americans and this would seem rather useless.

for one thing...

Any place you could find to build this (I can't imagine where it COULD be built AND be useful) you would have outlaw SUV, Pickups and maybe crossovers. That would eliminate enough traffic in those lanes to make the bus redundant :O

Which city in US is going to tear out a major street to make this fit? You would have to give up a lane or reduce clearance to nothing and restrict traffic on 2 others. Plus build a bunch of 2nd story bus stops, plenty of room for those, right?

lol, we only run buses til 10pm or so...where do we park that overnight ?!?

Just me?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me or does the main deck look like strip bar, except for the windows?

Re:Just me?

[Anonymous Coward]

it's just you

Re:Unfortunately it will not solve the "bus proble

[Anonymous Coward]

If your intent is to use public transportation as a means of government control, you are kind of screwing the pooch if you make it less inconvenient to not take it.

Quite so. I too have observed the propensity of public transportation advocates to work towards ruining cars to make their beloved buses more attractive. It's somewhat akin to having your competitor in a sport, who's better than you, hit repeatedly in the knee caps with an iron bar so just so that you can "win". When your strategy shifts from, "how can I make my preferred mode of transportation better" to "how can I wreck private autos so that people will be forced into taking the bus", maybe it's time to ask yourself if principles still matter at all and if they don't then why are you so intent on forcing people to take the bus?

Stop lights?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess the stop lights will be taller. The bus will have to wait on the stop light, just like all the other traffic.

Right on China !

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that's innovation !

nah, tall buses, toll lane

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, in America, they'd make 16 foot tall, single lane, double decker bus, and put it in a lane you have to pay lots of money to use.

Have you been to China?

[Goonie]

Let's just say that slowing down traffic sufficiently to make this thing faster than cars is a solved problem in most Chinese cities.

It's also a solved problem in many American cities, but whatever. Enjoy your Freedom(TM).

Over...

[Anonymous Coward]

The USAian version of "driving over cars" is a bigfoot stomping on clunkers.
Maybe a better word to describe the electric tram/bus on stilts would be 'above'.
It seems this is like a tram on two rails that goes around a circuit, but one can drive underneath it.
That is very creative thinking and some clever engineering put together.

TEB still needs separate rails

[azrael29a]

"The Transit Elevated Bus piloted in China's Hebei province rolls along a designated track, making it similar in some ways to a commuter train or tram -- the key difference, of course, being that it runs on top of the existing roadway without the need to construct a separate overpass" Not exactly true. You still have to construct the rails on which the support columns ride. You can't just ride it on any existing roadways out of the box.

Re:What about Private over Public?

[Anonymous Coward]

From your statement I presume you come from a somewhat backwards but wealthy country that does not understand public transport.

Re:First Post !

[Maritz]

I would think it would wreak disaster in the wrong hands

It sure would. That's what's unique to this vehicle. A train in the wrong hands, a cargo ship or oil tanker, an A380 airplane - you could never cause harm with these vehicles no matter what you did with them. But this little bus on rails - fucking lethal. They better keep a lid on this shit.

There are other cultures...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me explain to you something about China. China is what capitalism would look like if America/Europe removed all that social freedom/equality/justice/etc. stuff.

In particular, in China, if you knock someone over in the street, you're responsible for basically paying for the rest of their life.

Consequence?

It's fairly common to find that people have been deliberately run over after the initial accident to kill them, to prevent the driver from being identified.

It's also common to have people fake accidents by running into cars, so a dashcam is a necessity, viz. this sort of thing.

That should give you a basis for what traffic law is like in China.

Countries that think it's a good idea to move away from the American/European model of freedom (i.e. a good model) and to the Far Eastern one are fucking clueless about the consequences.

Dumb idea

[ThatsNotPudding]

Mass transit that allows car-based bombs to position themselves right under the passengers. Brilliant.

Re:Dumb idea

[Anonymous Coward]

A vehicle loaded with an explosive device can drive up to a public transport vehicle full of passengers today, right now. Oh my gawd!!!! Why aren't we already dead. Dumbass.

Re:Dumb idea

[luis_a_espinal]

How is this different from driving an 18-wheeler full of nitrate in the middle of Manhattan, Downtown LA or Miami/Brickell Financial District in the middle of rush hour?

You don't even a big truck full of explosive among a shitload of traffic. The Oklahoma City Bombing was carried out with a parked Ryder rental truck, parked right in front of a building. Go google the pictures.

Anything related to transportation or public spaces can be susceptible to car bombing. If we let that concern stop us from building infrastructure or explore ideas, fuck man, let's build our own castles surrounded my moats and communicate with pigeons or smoke signals. It's the only way to be sure.

Now they say it's 20% of subway cost

[Kartu]

Of the subway/underground.
Still cheaper though. =)

For nay sayers

[AgNO3]

Yes it's just cg but it's the plan. 2/3s in to see traffic. https://youtu.be/jNyEi1xMyvo

Re:For nay sayers

[samwichse]

I like how in the CGI video, the whole thing bends (including the cars!) like a big hot dog instead of the individual "cars" flexing at the joints only.

Solution looking for a problem.

[Charcharodon]

Or you could just build an elevated roadway/train and just use regular busses. The only place I see something like this being useful is on a high way where no one is trying to turn left or right all the time.

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could just build an elevated roadway/train and just use regular busses.

You may not understand this, but bus timings at bus stops need to be predictable and deterministic. You don't want a bus that takes between 40 mins and 90 mins to complete its route, due to heavy traffic. This bus/train/tram thing takes the same time to complete its route repeatedly, regardless of road traffic.

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[tomhath]

My thoughts too. It requires a track, so why not just build an elevated monorail or something like that.

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[The-Ixian]

I would think cost.

It would seem to me that a rail on either side of a road way would be a lot cheaper than building a whole elevated deck.

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[Charcharodon]

Your response gets a big "duh". (Where you born stupid or did you take lessons?) Why wouldn't busses on an elevated roadway or trains on an elevated track be predictable? There will only be cars or trains on said roadway before you open your mouth an utter something else inane.

Re:Solution looking for a problem.

[Charcharodon]

True but then again those busses they are building are a lot more expensive than regular busses nor will see the same kind of regular improvements that standard busses will receive in the market place. Also an elevated road way could be used for regular traffic at times if needed.

300 people?

[Event Horizon]

Only 300 people? Come now. I've spent a lot of time in China. They fit over 300 people on a normal bus with 1/4 the space of this thing.

sure is a big bus!

[snakeplissken]

if it's not nuclear powered then i'm not interested!

http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt007...

snake

This is the first bus in china that

[Anonymous Coward]

WINDOWS 10 ANNIVERSARY is FREE

5 dollar footlongs

[DarthVain]

"cost 10% of a subway system and use 30% less energy than current bus technologies."

OK I get that it costs less way less than a subway system. However that is only because they are exorbitantly expensive, usually because they are being built under existing development. 30% less energy than current bus technology? Not so sure of that, given construction costs, repairs/downtime, infrastructure costs, and for very low values of what "current bus technology" is. I'll throw out my own statistic, I bet it will also be 100% less flexible than current bus technology also.

It is a novelty to be sure. Though I think it is fantastic that they built it anyway! :)

Now you can be thrown under the bus...

[BeadyEl]

...and live to tell the tale.

The Big Bus

[Anonymous Coward]

https://m.youtube.com/?reload=2&rdm=24y32b49m#/watch?v=bPpBGsFddao

Re:First Post !

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, like an aeroplane in the wrong hands could ever be dangerous...