As many of us are aware, there was a recent buzz online about the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) in China, a huge vehicle that would allow certain cars to pass underneath it without disrupting the traffic.
Sounds great? Well, its not. Before we shout “hurrah!”, the Chinese state media has dubbed it as a scam concocted to defraud potential investors. The supposedly futuristic bus was road tested on 2nd August in Qinhuangdao, China. The initial applause was followed by skepticism by media in the country.
The local media has now began questioning the purpose and practicality of the mega bus accusing the TEB creators of illegally crowdfunding their project and deceiving investors. The report by The Shanghaiist suggest that the road test was a mere publicity stunt to draw investment from mildly interested parties for a project that will never be actualized. Others criticized that Song Youzhou, TEB’s designer, did not even have a high-school education let alone a college or university degree.
CarNewsChina says that the “road test” was conducted to check the internal working of the bus e.g. brakes and acceleration and furthermore, the authorities in Qinhuangdao City denied any knowledge of such a test taking place.
The TEB also has some serious flaws in the design. First of all it is taller than the vehicle height limit of many Chinese cities. Many of the cars and truck wont be able to pass under the bus of just 2.1 meters clearance. What would they do? Turn around and run?
Let us know what you think of the idea of an elevated bus? Do you think another design would be more successful?