From the first I heard of it I knew it was a bad idea. A bus that can drive over cars during rush hour just seemed like an accident in the works.
I've been in China for a while now, Dalian has about 6,000,000 in the greater area which make at a tier 2 city whereas Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are tier 1 cities with twice or more population. The traffic still gets pretty bad here not only because there are so many cars but people just cross the road where every they want even if the lights are red and policeman is standing there. It slows everything down.
Even the bus stop waiting areas need to be elevated.
22 meters long and can hold up to 300 people.
This elevated bus would not function well in this type of traffic. Cars often don'even signal and revert to honking their horn like the entire road belongs to one individual driver. I could only predict people getting run over by the bus or cars weaving in, around and now we get to add under it.
Some locals say it was just a scam to get investment money and the project never had government approval. Other think it will be too costly to rebuild all the roadways it would use. The bridges and light poles and power cables would all need to be retrofitted for the new bus. A cost that was ballooning out of control like North America's debt level.
(This guy is actually tearing down the demonstration rail for the bus now decommissioned.)
It does look pretty cool though. Very futuristic. Maybe when the roads have more civility and better flow this bus can make it's debut. I know there is a big push for driverless cars in USA which I hope I never have to have a self driving car.
What do you think aside from the costs would this type of transit make you life easier, better and save n commuting time?
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Sources
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/china-reveals-elevated-bus-that-drives-directly-over-cars-on-the-street-video-shows-how
http://www.boredpanda.com/elevated-bus-beijing-china/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4628590/China-s-bus-drives-cars-cancelled.html