In China, launched a bus portal - and he was fake

In the photo - not a monster, absorbing products of the Chinese car industry! No, this is a new type of urban transport that is being tested on the streets of one of the Chinese cities.

In China, in the urban district of Qinhuangdao, located in the eastern province of Hebei (thanks to Galvorn for correcting the name of the province!), Testing of a new type of public transport began - a bus portal. The term, of course, has to settle down (in English this type of transport is called “Elevated Bus” or “Straddling Bus”), as well as the bus design itself - run in and show its usefulness, as well as technical and economic parameters of operation.
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The vehicle is designed to carry passengers on the second floor, leaving a free two-lane road under it. The purpose of the vehicle is called the unloading of roads of the urban district. Testing also includes an assessment of the performance of the brake system, drag and energy consumption.

The tested bus variant consists of only one section, and, of course, does not reach the design values ​​by the number of passengers, however, it allows to evaluate many aspects of the operation of such a transport system.



According to the plans of the creators, the bus-portal is capable of carrying up to 300 passengers. The length of TEB-1 reaches 22 meters, in width - 7.8 meters, and in height - 4.8 meters. It moves by means of a special rail road (which, by the way, contradicts the name “bus” in some way).



For the first time TEB-1 was presented in May 2016 at the international exhibition in Beijing. Allegedly, Brazil, France, India and Indonesia have shown interest in the TEB-1 bus.



Judging by the photo, in the cabin of a new type of transport, as you can see, it will be quite convenient. True, and that there will be going on at rush hour - easy to imagine.

Several shots from the launch:



And a small presentation video (at the same time, you can compare the previous video with this renderer):



Upd: According to the publication on the Shanghaiist website , the project is not as smooth as its authors would like. It is alleged that full-fledged tests as such are not carried out, and the authorities of the city district in which they are to begin, have stated at all that the testing was not coordinated with them, and, moreover, they are in no way connected with the project. Moreover, after a series of critical remarks in the media, the developers of TEB-1 said that they planned to conduct their own internal tests. Road testing of the Astobus portal, as company representatives later reported, will be held in 2017. Thus, instead of vigorous rhetoric about the benefits (or harm - the results could be very different) of this kind of transport for the conditions of the city, we have a chance to witness the revelations of the desire of the authors of the bus to give what they really want.

However, on what you will not go for the sake of a chance to be forever inscribed in the history of urban transport? )