Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 10:35 28 Mar 2024
- Man suffers life-threatening injuries after train stabbing
* How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
* Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1992)
MOD Kineton tour, branch line society (*)

Train RunningCancelled
07:43 Swansea to London Paddington
08:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
09:12 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
09:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
09:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
09:46 Westbury to Swindon
10:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
10:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
10:41 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
11:05 Swindon to Westbury
11:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
11:23 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
11:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
12:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
12:17 Westbury to Swindon
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:15 Swindon to Westbury
14:19 Westbury to Swindon
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
Short Run
06:00 London Paddington to Penzance
07:03 London Paddington to Paignton
07:28 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester
09:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
09:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
10:55 Paignton to London Paddington
11:12 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Delayed
06:05 Penzance to London Paddington
06:37 Plymouth to London Paddington
07:10 Penzance to London Paddington
07:20 Swansea to London Paddington
07:48 London Paddington to Swansea
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
08:23 Southampton Central to Bristol Temple Meads
08:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
08:35 Plymouth to London Paddington
08:48 London Paddington to Swansea
09:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
09:30 Weymouth to Gloucester
09:37 London Paddington to Paignton
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:05 Bristol Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood
10:23 London Paddington to Oxford
11:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 10:45:24 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[193] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[109] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[75] Return of the BRUTE?
[59] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[46] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
[26] CrossCountry upgrade will see 25% more rail seats
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Chinese Transit Explore Bus  (Read 5534 times)
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« on: May 26, 2016, 12:10:08 »

A giant bus that straddles over traffic and drives over the top of other vehicles up to 2m tall (or lets them drive underneath it). Seems to run on rails, so perhaps not really a bus. Looks like something out of Thunderbirds.
http://www.citylab.com/tech/2016/05/can-chinas-futuristic-straddling-bus-finally-become-a-reality/483953/
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7154


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2016, 12:55:40 »

Why is it being called a bus? It runs on tracks down the road, so it's a form of tram. It looks nothing like a normal tram or bus, so why name it for something it doesn't resemble in either way?
Logged
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2016, 13:23:57 »

I agree. I can think of a few possible reasons: Perhaps Chinese does not have distinct words for bus and tram (if this sounds unlikely, bear in mind that some languages have one word for car and bus)? Perhaps the journalists writing these reports assume their readers are more familiar with buses than trams (particularly as they all seem to be written by Americans)? Perhaps it's a reversion to the original, more general, sense of omnibus? Perhaps it's by comparison to phrases such as 'water bus'? I've no idea whether any of these are correct, but equally, it's not the most important point.
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2016, 08:04:27 »

Looks like the Chinese have noticed some of the problems we spotted!

From The Economist

Quote
IT STARTED with a fanfare, albeit with a bemused tone. “China’s bonkers elevated bus is real and already on the road,” announced Wired on August 3rd. It was not only Wired. Headlines and half-page photos quickly filled the world’s newspapers and webpages, trumpeting the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB, pictured), a magnificent-looking contraption that, it was claimed, would straddle China’s streets, allowing cars to pass underneath it. Passengers could hop on and off from elevated platforms. This would allow the bus to cruise above the traffic jams that plague roads in urban China, while lessening the gridlock for others.

Befitting such a clever, mad-cap idea, the reaction was breathless. Although it crawled along on its inaugural journey, speeds would eventually reach 40 miles per hour, it was said, using rails running either side of the road. Its 300 passengers (1,200, once a few buses were linked together like train carriages) would travel in comfort, in something akin to an airport lounge. Of course, only in China could such a marvellous project get off the ground.

All of a sudden, though, the tone of the headlines changed. Something was amiss. “China blasts its own radical public transport amid safety concerns”, reported the Daily Mail. Some claimed that there had been no test journey after all. Important questions were left unanswered. How would such a bus pass beneath low bridges? What if a tall vehicle wanted to overtake it (the clearance was just seven feet)? How could it warn cars when it wanted to change lanes? How could it go round 90-degree bends?
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2016, 08:41:49 »

It has something of the W Heath Robinson about it, doesn't it? I have said that the best public transport can be found in countries run by totalitarian regimes. It seems that also applies to the strangest, too. The first accident will be interesting.
I'm not sure the concept has much of a future, unless someone is prepared to design a new city to fit it.
Logged

Now, please!
chrisr_75
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1019


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2016, 09:25:29 »

unless someone is prepared to design a new city to fit it.

I wouldn't discount that possibility in China!
Logged
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5398



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2018, 13:50:23 »

This bizarre sounding project has now failed. The prototype vehicle is abandoned and various proponents of the scheme have been arrested under suspicion of fraud.

Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2018, 16:00:24 »

This bizarre sounding project has now failed. The prototype vehicle is abandoned and various proponents of the scheme have been arrested under suspicion of fraud.



Could they come to Bristol and sort out MetroBust next, please?
Logged

Now, please!
PhilWakely
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2007



View Profile
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2018, 17:22:28 »

This bizarre sounding project has now failed. The prototype vehicle is abandoned and various proponents of the scheme have been arrested under suspicion of fraud.



Could they come to Bristol and sort out MetroBust next, please?

Who - the fraudsters or the authorities ?   Grin
Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6435


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2018, 20:14:29 »

This bizarre sounding project has now failed. The prototype vehicle is abandoned and various proponents of the scheme have been arrested under suspicion of fraud.



Could they come to Bristol and sort out MetroBust next, please?

Who - the fraudsters or the authorities ?   Grin

Hm, not sure. Either would do a better job.
Logged

Now, please!
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page