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China's futuristic 'straddling bus' now sits abandoned, gathering dust

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B

Blablurn

Member
straddle_bus_abandoned_01.jpg


China's once-celebrated Traffic Elevated Bus (TEB) has been left abandoned in the middle of a Hebei city road, not having moved once in over two months. Originally touted as the futuristic solution to urban traffic jams, the "straddling bus" is currently causing them.

A local reporter recently checked up on "the future of public transportation" at its testing site in Qinhuangdao, only to find it forgotten in a rusted garage, covered in dust. The bus is currently being looked after by a pair of old security guards who reluctantly admit that they've been forgotten about as well.

"The managers from the company have long drifted away, and I am unable to contact them," said an unidentified guard.
Click to expand...

The dream that never was

This is quite the reversal from early August when the TEB made its first "test-run" to much fanfare and media coverage on a tiny 300-meter-long strip of road in Qinhuangdao.

Unfortunately, testing was abruptly stopped only a few days later after Chinese state media labeled the "straddling bus" a big, fat scam.
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more_straddlingbus5.jpg


"No one has done anything with it in over two months. It still hasn't been dismantled," said local resident Chen Peng. "Give us back our road so we can pass through."
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Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2016/12/05/straddling_bus_abandoned.php
 
T

titiklabingapat

Member
Most transit people were saying how much of a disaster waiting to happen this thing was...

Feels similar to that stupid Hyperloop shit.
 
A

Afrikan

Member
bus is currently being looked after by a pair of old security guards who reluctantly admit that they've been forgotten about as well.

"The managers from the company have long drifted away, and I am unable to contact them," said an unidentified guard.
Click to expand...

"No one has done anything with it in over two months. It still hasn't been dismantled," said local resident Chen Peng. "Give us back our road so we can pass through."
Click to expand...

This is just comedy gold......yet still sad.
 
S

Snagret

Member
Honestly, this thing just looks like a huge hazard. Maybe someday when we have self-driving cars that have full 360 degrees of spatial awareness this idea would work, but imagine someone making a right turn in front of this thing and getting t-boned by it. It's so low to the ground, too. That guy on his big barely clears the underside.
 
B

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
People in-the-know were already saying it was just a scam from the get-go.

Cool to have some confirmation.
 
MisterFalcon

MisterFalcon

Member
The claim that this thing could carry 1000 to 1400 passengers made it seem like a scam. Not only is it way too small for all these people but such large numbers of passengers massively increase the downtime of transportation while everyone gets on and off. Only snake oil salesmen come up with such claims that have no base in reality.
 
S

SteveMeister

Hang out with Steve.
It was a dumb idea to begin with. Road vehicles need to be compatible with the roads their on and the vehicles they share them with, or they need their own. I couldn't see this thing working in a practical sense in any urban environment.

I don't see the hyperloop comparison either. Hyperloop would absolutely work if built -- the only real hurdle there is construction and the money to build it. And that's a big hurdle.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Kind of sad because this was definitely a "China has the way forward to the future of transit innovation" story.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
That doesn't look anywhere near tall enough to have been actually viable, it looks like a cyclist can barely fit beneath it.
Seems like it needs an absolute minimum of an additional 2-3 feet of space beneath it.
 
P

pronk420

Member
I never understood how anyone thought this could work, what happens to the cars underneath it when it needs to turn onto a different road? It could only work on a section of road with no junctions or crossings.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
I always thought that thing looked impractical. What if it meets a truck or just a regular bus? Or are tall vehicules just not a thing in China?
 
YourMaster

YourMaster

Member
A Fish Aficionado said:
Hyperloop is undergoing limited testing, but that just might mean it goes in the way of Maglev instead of the bus.
Click to expand...

Yeah right. The 'hyperloop' will never* run 'at supersonic speeds in a vacuum tube over great distances'.
You are right that it is possible to transform it to something no different than Maglev trains.

At least this Chinese bus only has practical issues that could be resolved by reworking your infrastructure.

*Never say never of course, who knows in the distant future what kind of technology makes this thing possible.

catfish said:
lots of surprising negativity. massive fail ideas are still valuable learning experiences
Click to expand...

Because it appeared to be an invention in bad faith, created to pocked investor-money, not to learn from or ever go into service.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
lots of surprising negativity. massive fail ideas are still valuable learning experiences
 
Z

Zaph

Member
Novel/wacky solutions are only good if they solve a problem while working with existing limitations.

This thing required infrastructure to be built especially for it - if you're going to that much effort, you may as well just build traditional transportation like a train or tram.
 
D

Dash_Riprock

Member
The bus is currently being looked after by a pair of old security guards who reluctantly admit that they've been forgotten about as well.
Click to expand...

This is the setup for the plot of a great film, where the two old guards decide to steal the bus and take it on one final road trip in a powerful journey of self-discovery.
 
S

Sölf

Member
Dash_Riprock said:
This is the setup for the plot of a great film, where the two old guards decide to steal the bus and take it on one final road trip in a powerful journey of self-discovery.
Click to expand...

Or you just watch them 2 hours do nothing and reminiscence about what they did in their younger days.
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
I thought it was a cool idea, don't understand the negativity in this thread.

Wish China actually got it to work, because if there's one place where there's enough political will to get projects like these going, it's China.
 
W

Window

Member
Having read the article I'm still not clear why this failed and whether it's owed to illicit business practices, unfeasible economics or design/infrastructure failings (or a combination). Depending on the root cause, further refinements could be made by other organizations. The article seems to be put together by talking to a security guard along with other news on the story from the past.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
it was a horrible concept, didn't take into account large trucks, military vehicles, utility vehicles that are too large to fit under that mess
 
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