An ambitious concept turned into a reality as the world’s first elevated bus that can glide over traffic has started its trial runs at the city of Qinhuangdao in north-east China.

Built to help China deal with their huge traffic problems, the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) sits 2m (6.5 feet) high off the ground, allowing cars to pass through and saving this way a lot of road space. This excludes trucks from passing below this super-bus but you can’t have it all.

Measuring 22m (73 feet) in length, 7.8m (26 feet) in width and 4.8m (16 feet) in height, the finished TEB-1 prototype can carry up to 300 passengers at once. Powered by electricity, the vehicle can reach speeds of up to 60km/h (38mph). Each TEB could replace as much as 40 conventional buses.

The trial run was conducted on a 300m-long (3300 feet) route, with passengers embarking and departing via special elevated platforms on the side of the road. The company behind it says that up to four TEBs can be linked together.

So far this is only a prototype during its first trial run but it’s certainly encouraging to see such a radical idea being implemented in the real world. According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, the TEB has already attracted interest from the governments in Brazil, France, India and Indonesia while the designer of it has said that no less than five cities in China -Nanyang, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, and Zhoukou- have signed contracts for tests and trials of the straddling bus.

Photo Credit: China Xinhua News

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