Super Busses?

[Danlikebooks 6]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/669166

Basically, busses that drive over traffic.  Interesting?

[quicksilver991 37]

wow. that is interesting. i have never seen anything like that. taking bus rapid transit to the next level

[CLR95 11]

That could completely change travel! If those busses could go as fast as a train, commuting would change forever!

[Duke87 1,070]

Damn it China, it's Japan that's supposed to come up with crap like this.

[erbush 8]

Its riding on rails.. how is that not a rail tram or train? how is it a bus?

[Rymac91 15]

This of course assumes that no one tries to change lanes in front of it or that traffic doesn't become jammed while people are changing lanes...then the buses would be stuck in traffic like everyone else.

[Bplax15 2]

Originally posted by: Rymac91

This of course assumes that no one tries to change lanes in front of it or that traffic doesn't become jammed while people are changing lanes...then the buses would be stuck in traffic like everyone else.quote>

My first thought exactlly. And with all the bikes swerving in and out of traffic... sounds like there'll be more road kill than usual

[Mr. Cortez 11]

since it is running on fixed rails, technically it is not a bus, but I like the idea. I can see drivers cutting it off in traffic and causing accidents, though.

[Wrightguy0 40]

it really doesn't seem all that safe, i must admit, the bus blocks sight lines in cars, is fixed on rails, and just seems like it'll get in the way of everyone else

[Alex_Bervoets 91]

It's more a tram than a bus because it has a rail...

But wouldn't people be scared by this huge thing suddenly passing over your car (and causing collisions)?

Traffic in cities is busy enough already and what would happen if you're driving just a little bit too far out of your lane?

[warrior 169]

This(http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/02/china-to-build-ginormous-buses-that-cars-can-drive-under-video/) has a video (in chinese) which shows more how it works, you can get the gist of it by just watching.

As usual, English things become out of date before they are built The new London buses look ancient in comparison. Though I guess there'd be more problems in london as it's so tightly packed.

[Alex_Bervoets 91]

To my opinion they're making one huge mistake here: they are counting on the other drivers to drive carefully... It only takes one distracted driver (and there are more than one on the roads) to cause mayhem... It's a moving tunnel on the road and those yellow poles will cause some accidents as well...

I don't want to be in a car when that thing hits the car behind or next to me...

[cheeseman 3]

this is pretty amazing though, guess we will see if the other drivers on the road can adapt to the moving tunnel bus-train thing (wtf is this thing a bus? train? both?) anyway, good job china for finally thinking out of the box

[SC4BOY 21]

Yep, looks interesting to me. Not very generally applicable and extremely limited in what it can/can't do... but as said.. it's always good to see "out of the box" thinking.. I'll be interested in seeing how it goes... Since China has a very large population of folk without car access, it certainly may be a great boon in areas where it makes sense.

[Ryan123220 18]

Very interesting idea indeed. They claim it will only take a year to build which i do not find realistic. This is something that is new to the world and looks like there could be a lot of safety problems with cars being in the way. For it to only take a year really sounds like they have it all planed and are just going to go for the build to get it done asap. I would love to see this in the real world but it may be a little ahead of china's times. They are a very quickly rising country and maybe in a few years this might be more practical but ... have you seen there roads? They are completely packed. This ... errr bus-train might just cause to many traffic problems unless they figure out how to control how drivers drive.

I did not read the whole article because i wanted to get a quick reply in but i will finish it when i get home today.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Ideas are fine, but this is silly.  It assumes that all the other drivers on the road are sheep, who always drive carefully and exactly, and who are never distracted by anything, including having a huge tunnel pass over them.  The Chinese have great ideas, and put them into effect.  When this thing hits the road, you can expect a lot of dislocation.  The Chinese are making their own interesting times.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I think that it will go over express lanes that cars cannot normally change lanes from. If that is the case, then it is a better idea.

[Meg 368]

It looks like a neat idea but I can imagine cars getting "stuck" underneath that thing.   What are the relative speeds of the bus and cars?  

If they are going about the same speeds, a car could get trapped in a moving tunnel unable to either speed up or slow down without causing a crash.

If they are going at different speeds, drivers will have to learn to watch out for that thing coming up behind them while changing lanes.   There appears to be a third lane to the left of the bus.  At some point cars will have to go over the rails, watching out for not only cars but an overhead bus too.

But I agree that thinking "out of the box" is a good start.

[tjh876 31]

It seems like it would work, but still, there are small roads, and it would be hard to navigate, and what if a car caught fire under it at a stop light?

[warrior 169]

There are warning lights and sensors that detect when a car that is under the bus gets too close to the side of the bus. Also there is a sensor that detects vehicles going into the back of it  that are too tall and it sounds an alarm. And the lanes which the bus travels over have striped yellow and black "door ways" that are slightly smaller than the tunnel under the bus to prevent lorrys and such going on the lanes in the first place. if there's a fire  or crash the side of the bus flap outwards allowing passengers to exit aircraft style (who knows what happens if theres a fire on a bridge (thers a bridge in the video) and the sides fall out, or the sides fall out onto another lane of traffic, likely smacking into the tops of the cars there. but I imagine there are sensors to prevent them falling onto something)

From the video it looks like the buses travel slower than the traffic, however thats faster than the endless stream of standing busses that were pictures in the video.

If theres a fire at an intersection where the bus can't move It could be linked into the traffic signals which stop all the traffic at the intersection to allow the buses to move out the way. Or they could go backwards.Or even have fire extinguishers on the roof of their "tunnel".

[tepodon 29]

There's a couple of things I noticed.

First of all, deducting from the title this is a bus, and unlike a train will be expected to stop more often than trains. One big problem you face in cities like Tokyo where I'm from, is when buses stop. Its a real hassel because the roads are too narrow for you to overtake them, and you just kinda sit there waiting for it to start again, but there are just so many old people that need to get on, and they take forever to do so. With a bus/tram? system like this, cars could just go right under this thing each time the bus stops.

So there were some people that were saying how a car could get trapped under this thing if it were going at the same speed as the bus, but that would be almost impossible, unless you're a really slow driver. You wouldn't have to worry about the bus stopping in front of you, and kids jumping out from the sides, because they'll all be on top of you!

Second, this could be an extremely good addition to any pre-exisiting tram or train line. I would freak out too if something swooped over me in the middle of traffic, its kind of intimidating. Also the fear of cars trying to change lanes in front of it, or crashing into its sides would be a major problem.

However, its not like regular tram lines don't have the same problem. So I don't see cars crashing into it as any major problem, and I don't see cars changing lanes as any big problem either, since trams already deal with those kinds of problems in the first place.

However, since it is a highly sophisitacated and possibly intimidating design, I would think that it would be an extremely smart addition to pre existing rail lines or tram lines that have become highly congested, and require more trains or an express line. So instead of having to build a whole new set of tracks either over or under a busy line, just build one of these things, and some extra tracks in stations where this train will overtake the regular trains underneith.

[Bplax15 2]

Originally posted by: Tommy7777

 what if a car caught fire under it at a stop light?quote>

You'd have a true chinese fire drill

[Cobraroll 138]

Okay... a sensor sounding an alarm when somebody drives too close to the bus. Thing is, none of the 20-ish cars driving near the bus can know which car sounded the alarm. Either, a lot of people would swerwe thinking that they drive too close, or the one driving too close would assume somebody else sounded it.

Then you have the fact that it completely blocks any crossroads it drives past. Though, if it's only used on fast lanes, I guess it could work fine.

One more thing: I've heard that Chinese drivers aren't exactly the best in the world. With cars becoming cheaper, any citizen and his dog will get one, and I'm not sure how the driver's license thing works in China. Is there a strict control? Apparently not. Which means there are a lot of bad drivers on the roads there.

All in all, let's build it and see what happens. If it is a flop, the Chinese government will probably imprison the entire company who built it, and we won't see it again. If it is a success, I think we might see a few popping up in the Western world as well.

[hamsterTK 93]

I think this could work on roads specifically planned for such a thing to be implemented. The place where the wheels or rails would run would be protected by concrete barriers and there would few at grade intersections.

Perhaps as a short shuttle in a business district. Would such a thing be easy to implement across a wide urban area, probably not. Basically, when capacity or grade separation would be helpful but the cost of an elevated guideway was too great, and the path was a fairly short, straight line down the middle of a stretch of boulevard, then this solution would make sense. Of course, I thought Chinese cities had plenty of places like this, so it would make sense for them.

[x493x 446]

That is definetaly one invention that I like. That is amazing! Great idea too!

[Duke of York 23]

 Its great there trying to advance into more oppertunities...I'll have to give this a 10/10 for effort and you

never know some day it could me a reality.

-DOY