Bus on stilts to beat Beijing gridlock (very inventive)

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/LH28Cb01.html


Chinese entrepreneur Song Youzhou reckons he has found a way for commuters to leapfrog the horrendous traffic jams that increasingly bring his country's cities to a grinding halt.

Song's solution is a 43-meter long "straddling bus" that runs astride the road on tracks, allowing it pass over vehicles underneath while an upper level carries as many as 1,200 passengers. A test-run of his futuristic vehicle - dubbed the "3D Fast Bus" - is planned for early next year on a track to be built in Beijing's Mentougou district. China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation, one of the country's top two state-owned rolling stock manufacturers, will make the prototype vehicle.

- snip-

An Argentine government delegation is to visit Beijing this weekend for discussions with Shenzhen Huashi, Song said. China and Argentina last month announced a co-invested US$10 billion railway project, including purchases of high-speed trains from for a planned high-speed railway in the Latin American nation.

Officials from India's Transport Ministry have invited Song and his company for a meeting in Beijing on September 16, and Mexico is to sign a letter of intent on technical co-operation for the bus early next month, which would lead to a similar project being built in Mexico, Song said. An American company will also sign a letter of intent for the bus, according to Song, without giving details.

The 3D Fast Bus bus will be powered by roof-mounted solar panels, with back-up from power points at bus stops. The vehicles, with passengers traveling at 40 kilometers an hour more than 2 meters above the ground, will run on existing roads that will require only a few amendments, including installation of track on each side and high platforms for boarding and alighting. That means it will take only one year to build a 40km track for bus, compared with about three years for an equivalent underground railway.
-snip-

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we are so behind the times and not even trying to catch up

[Ian David]

1. I might panic if I saw that thing coming up to engulf me. n/t

[ensho]

2. now don't be a sissy

nt

[NCarolinawoman]

6. Yep. They need to put some big mean eyeballs on that thing. LOL n/t

[Romulox]

3. It's dumb; no turns are possible whilst in the belly of the beast.

It combines the hassle and pollution of driving a car with the lack of choices and subject to delay of a bus or train. It's a crap idea. :shrug:

[marmar]

4. One instance where being "thrown under the bus" is a good thing....

:)

[joeglow3]

5. Yeah. This does not have disaster written all over it (/sarcasm).

[Enrique]

7. I want one

what kind of mileage does it get?

[ensho]

8. you can make fun of China all you want but they are still ahead of

us.

[Romulox]

10. In which way, specifically.

:hi:

[Vincardog]

9. Will they have one in down town Dallas or LA soon? I want to see one take a city corner