Are China’s traffic-straddling buses the future of London commuting?

The first Transit Elevated Bus took to the roads this week
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Liz Connor4 August 2016

It might look like something from Transformers or Back to the Future, but this ‘traffic-straddling’ bus could soon become the norm for London commuters.

The long-awaited transport innovation ran its inaugural test in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao this week, in the hopes that it will ease the congestion in notoriously busy parts of the country.

The 2m high bus looks like it’s hovering about traffic from a distance, but cleverly runs on tracks that coast alongside the pavement, leaving space underneath for two lanes of cars to pass undisturbed.

Powered by electricity, the train costs about a fifth as much as underground transit systems and is able to carry up to 300 passengers in its 72ft (21m) long and 25ft wide body.

Only one car was used for the test journey, but up to four TEB cars can be linked together to ferry over 1,000 passengers at a time at rush hour, according to its creators.

The idea is that the mammoth buses will save space on the roads, as well as being able to glide over traffic jams.

The bus leaves space underneath for two lanes of cars to pass undisturbed 
Rex

"The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space,” Song Youzhou, the project’s chief engineer, told Xinhua, China’s official news agency.

Youzhou also claimed that one TEB could replace 40 conventional buses in China, which could significantly lower pollution in a country where approximately 20 million new drivers take to the road each year.

At this point, it’s not known how the system would coexist with lorries and taller vehicles. However if proven successful, the road-straddling bus, which was showcased at a technology expo in Beijing in May, could become a blueprint for other transport bodies across the world.

And far from crawling along at a snail’s pace, the straddling busses are expected to reach surprisingly fast speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour - meaning commuters will be able to get home quicker than ever.

Less journeys stuck in gridlocked traffic? That’s an idea we can get behind.

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