China may build bus-train hybrid that rolls over cars

[Liberal_in_LA]

interesting



To beat traffic China may roll over cars

The "3-D Fast Bus" uses ultrasound and laser technology to keep vehicles from colliding with it.
By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writerAugust 18, 2010: 1:57 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Struggling under mounting congestion problems and facing an explosion in automobile sales, China may build a novel bus-train hybrid people-mover that rolls over cars.

Resembling an open-mouthed whale, the vehicle, known as a "3-D Fast Bus" (which apparently sounds much more modern in Chinese), would run on stilt-like legs, whisking passengers along about 14 feet above the road and allowing traffic to pass underneath.

vehicle can run either on rails laid on each side of the road, or on wheels programmed to stay on special lines painted on the pavement. Hitched together in a line of four, the transporter could move up to 1,200 passengers.

A spokesman for the Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment Co., the company building the vehicle, told CNN the firm is "definitely" signing a contract with the district of Mentougou, a suburb of Beijing.

Construction on a six-mile test road is set to begin at the end of this year, with groundbreaking on a 75-mile-long pilot project set for the end of 2011, said the spokesman.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/18/news/international/china_straddle_bus/index.htm

[FSogol]

1. Have they seen how some people drive?

:eyes: :crazy: :shrug:

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. In Los Angeles, cars would take advantage of the bus and drive under IT.

[LaurenG]

3. I hope the drivers stay in their own lane and don't make any right turns.

:wow:

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. ..lol. and that the cars are perfectly aligned in their lanes. I guess there

are some kinks to work out.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Bet anyone a crisp twenty that someone crashes into it on the first day

I predict they will have been texting while driving, or applying makeup.

[T Wolf]

6. We already have them here. They're called SUVs, especially the Hummers driven by

the weekend warriors who never served.

[Warpy]

7. Probably not great on multi lane roads with exits

although I can see them in the passing lane of a highway a little more easily. That's the major flaw, right there, and why elevated monorails might be better, overall, as would buried subways in urban settings. Strict forward motion isn't what cars do in cities or even on highways, and these are designed with only strict forward motion of traffic considered.

The advantage would be at the various elevated stops, the traffic able to flow underneath the passenger car.

[whyverne]

8. That's cool.

They can pick up and discharge passengers without stopping traffic. Kind of a movable "L" without the ugly sun and sky blocking structure.

[Bold Lib]

9. I don't think China has to worry too much with civil liability.

The first time some schmuck tried to dart under it in their car and got smashed it would be the end of the program in the States. Any of you hear about the problems with the "zipper" in the DFW area??? I think it crushed more than a couple cars before it got the "kinks" (no pun intended) worked out.

[yellowcanine]

10. Not sure I see the advantage. If the "bus" goes significantly faster than the traffic they

will be a huge hazard unless they are somehow separated from the traffic - which would require a tremendous reworking of roads. If they go the same speed or slower than the traffic, what is the advantage?

[FSogol]

11. The only advantage is that they could stop and discharge passengers

without stopping traffic. Also if the roads were tied up, they could continue on.

However, It would never happen. Cars would constantly crash into them.

[Subdivisions]

12. The now five-year YOY decline in oil production, which will only accelerate

absent oil discoveries totaling two or three Saudi Arabias, will see to it that China's automobile explosion will be a dud at best. Indeed, Chinese enthusiasm for a western lifestyle will accelerate oil depletion even as China continues securing oil the old fashioned way, by donning business suits instead of uniforms, by getting on passenger airliners instead of military transports, and by negotiating business contracts instead of blasting brown people in the ass with DU rounds.