The answer to all our traffic woes? China tests elevated bus that allows cars to pass underneath

China has just tested a huge straddle bus, which has a revolutionary design that lets cars drive underneath and can carry up to 1,400 passengers, saving not only the road space but also reducing air pollution. The transit elevated bus TEB-1, was on road test in Qinhuangdao, north China’s Hebei Province yesterday, state-run People’s Daily reported.

The 72ft-long and 25ft-wide Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) powered by electricity can carry hundreds of passengers, is designed to go over the normal traffic to help ease traffic congestion without having to dig new tunnels or build elevated rail tracks. (Source: AP)

The bus is powered by electricity and is 22m long, 7.8m wide. It was tested on a specially laid track.

There was a lot of buzz around the bus when first pictures and videos of it were released back in May by the Beijing-based Transit Explore Bus. Also called the land airbus – and we think it’s quite an apt name for it – the passenger compartment of the public bus rises far above the other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath.

Whether moving or static, the special bus allows cars to go underneath it quite easily. (Source: AP)

The bus can pass over two lanes of traffic underneath it as the floor of the bus sits on a pair of stilts (of sorts!). It can carry around 1,400 passengers in one go and travel at a maximum speed of 60km per hour.

“The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space,” Song Youzhou, chief engineer of the straddling bus project told state-run Xinhua news agency in May this year.

The bus can pass over two lanes of traffic underneath it as the floor of the bus sits on a pair of stilts (of sorts!). (Source: AP)

He added that the bus has the similar function of the subway, but its cost is only 16 per cent of the subway. The manufacturing and construction lead-time is also much shorter. Furthermore, the design is environmentally friendly.

Powered by electricity, the straddling bus could replace about 40 conventional buses, potentially saving more than 800 tonnes of fuel annually and reducing 2,480 tonnes of carbon emissions, Song said.

This picture shows the inside of the TEB-1 as they conduct a test run in Qinhuangdao. (Source: AP)

Some Chinese cities have shown interest in the invention. Now, if only we knew when these buses would make their way to India, imagine the number of hours we’d save NOT being on the road?!