China's straddling bus ran one 300m test, raised a fortune, then rusted on the road

The Transit Elevated Bus — a 22-metre, 7.8-metre-wide electric vehicle designed to straddle two lanes of traffic while cars passed underneath — was first shown as a model at the Beijing High-Tech Expo in May 2010. Chief engineer Song Youzhou claimed it could carry 300 passengers at 60 km/h and cost one-sixteenth the price of a subway line. Five Chinese cities — Nanyang, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Zhoukou — signed pilot-project contracts.

On 2 August 2016, a full-scale prototype called TEB-1 ran on a 300-metre track in Qinhuangdao, Hebei. Qinhuangdao authorities said they were unaware of the test; the company later called it 'internal testing.' People's Daily Online labelled the project a 'complete scam.' By December the prototype sat abandoned, rusting in a barn-like structure in the middle of a major road.

The engineering was never viable. Chinese roads have a 4.5-metre height limit; TEB-1 stood 4.8 metres tall, leaving only 2.1 metres of clearance underneath — below the national standard for smaller vehicles. At full capacity the vehicle would weigh over 100 tonnes, more than most urban roads can bear. Cars underneath could not change lanes or see traffic signals.

In June 2017 the test track was demolished after Qinhuangdao refused to extend the land lease. The prototype was scrapped the same month. In July 2017, police investigated 32 people connected to the project on suspicion of illegally raising funds; 72 investors filed complaints. The concept that had been promised as a revolution in urban transit ended in collapse.