TEB, the giant Chinese bus rises above the traffic jams true – BBC World

Image copyright AP

Image caption do not deceive your eyes: this bus two meters high passing over the cars is designed to do exactly that.

It sounds like science fiction.

In the middle of a huge traffic jam on a highway, a giant bus rises to more than two meters high to move over two lanes full of cars.

This is an invention that may soon become part of everyday reality in China, which has just to test a model called Transit Bus High or TEB, for its acronym in English.

the prototype was presented originally it received with great enthusiasm-and at the nineteenth International Exhibition Beijing High Technology in May last.

And on Wednesday, just two months later, she was under its inaugural test in Hebei province in the northeast of the country.

Image copyright AP

Image caption ” There is enough space to dance, “said a user on Chinese social network Weibo.

The test was carried out along a controlled 300m long in the city of Qinhaungdao road.

High capacity

at the launch in May, the engineer responsible for the project, Song Youzhou, said the first bus could be operational this year.

“the biggest advantage is that it will save space on the highways,” Song told the Chinese Xinhua news agency.

Image copyright AP

Image caption One TEB can do the work of 40 buses, according to the company it builds.

At that time the engineer said the giant vehicle can carry up to 1,400 passengers and can be produced at a cost 20% lower than a subway train.

a TEB could replace, according to Song, 40 conventional buses.

How it works

the giant bus moves through rails or tracks.

the lower space have a height of between 2.1 and 2.2 meters, allowing private cars move under the machine , or if there is traffic jams- advance the bus.

Image copyright AP

Image caption came the future.

TEB will consist of four cars in chains with a total length of between 58 and 62 meters.

height Approximate will be 4.5 meters and width 7.8 meters .

it is expected to reach a speed of 60 kph .

A pr or problem of numbers

Traffic jams have become increasingly numerous on the highways of the Asian giant, which in 2009 went to the United States and became the largest auto market in the world:

2015 were sold in China more than 21 million vehicles .

However, the number of cars on streets and Chinese highways is still far below the US .

De according to official data, the number of US registered vehicles in 2014 was close to 260 million.

in China was about 62 million in 2009 and the government estimated that exceed 200 million in 2020 .

* a version of this article was published on May 27, 2016, when it introduced the design TEB .