Move over, bus rapid transit, you’re jamming up the roads. Light rail? So 21st century. Subways? No chance. The radical future of public transportation is barreling down the road in the form of a gigantic car-straddling bus, reports the website ChinaHush(July 31, 2010).
Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co. unveiled its “three-dimensional fast bus” at the 13th annual China Beijing International High-Tech Expo last May. The monster solar-and-electric people mover has an elevated passenger cabin and straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to pass underneath, even when the bus is stopped. The company plans to break ground on a 115-mile line in Beijing before the end of the year.
The bus is designed for existing roadways, making use of the lost space above cars but underneath overpasses. It can be built quickly and costs a fraction of the price of a comparable subway system. Shenzhen Hashi estimates that the bus will also ease congestion 25 to 30 percent. Not bad for a country expected to add 350 million people to its cities in the next two decades.
