China’s Transit Elevated Bus ‘straddling’ the cars conducts its first run in Heibei province
Hebei August 3:China’s Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) went through a road test in north China’s Hebei Province on Tuesday. The passenger compartment rises far above other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath.
The transit elevated bus TEB-1 is on road test in Qinhuangdao, north China’s Hebei Province, Aug. 2, 2016.
The test-run tried to simulate real traffic conditions with one bus compartment traveling at a speed of 10 km per hour on a section of a 300-meter-long test track.
The 22-meter-long, 7.8-meter-wide and 4.8-meter-high TEB-1 can carry up to 300 passengers. The passenger compartment of this futuristic public bus rises far above other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath.
Six years ago, China came up with a super wacky idea
A large straddling bus that can let cars drive under it, which could be a cost-effective way to skip over congested traffic while carrying hundreds of passengers a pop.
This concept has evolved from a miniature model to a full-scale moving mockup, as unveiled in Hebei province’s Qinhuangdao city yesterday. This “Transit Elevated Bus” or “TEB” in short is designed to handle 300 passengers, and it comes in at 22 meters long, 7.8 meters wide (covering two lanes) plus 4.8 meters tall.
It’s only a tad taller than a double-decker bus for the sake of existing bridges in China, so only cars less than two meters tall can drive under the TEB.
Based on the photos, the TEB runs on sixteen tired wheels and is guided by eight pairs of rail wheels.
It’s supposed to reach 40 to 50 km/h (about 25 to 31 mph), but the experimental electric vehicle moved cautiously slow on its disappointingly short 300-meter demo track yesterday.
It was more of a proof of concept demo rather than a technical test run, because the vehicle here isn’t the real deal.
No bridges, no traffic lights, no crosswalks and no turns. Still, it was able to wow some folks, especially those who were allowed to board the TEB to get a taste of the large space inside a bit like an enlarged subway train as opposed to having long rows of seats like a ferry.
Futuristic “straddling bus” TEB conducts 1st road test in N #China‘s Hebei on simulated traffic conditions #XinhuaTVpic.twitter.com/xY929JAAJo
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 3, 2016
