China will tear up the test track for controversial ‘straddle bus’

There’s probably no single piece of transportation technology that’s been quite as hyped – or quite as controversial – as China’s so-called “straddle bus.” Over the years, the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) has gotten a lot of attention in both the Chinese and foreign press, and the hype reached fever pitch when the bus launched its first real-world road test last month (pictured above).

Then the wheels fell off (figuratively speaking). Local media began reporting on irregularities in the project’s funding. Government bodies that the TEB had claimed were partners denied having worked on the project. Cynics pointed out that the “road test” was a 300-meter straight line on a closed track, nothing like what the bus would have to handle in the real world.

It doesn’t seem likely that the TEB will be taking to China’s streets again anytime soon.

This week, the TEB was handed another tough break: it’s about to lose its test track. In China’s Southern Metropolis Daily, the local government confirmed that it did have a project agreement for a public road test with TEB, but that that project is slated to end on August 31. Unless something changes between now and then, the track will be torn up and the road restored to its previous state.

The TEB could attempt to negotiate another deal with the local government, but it may not have time to, as TEB owner and CEO Bai Danqing has been busy putting out fires with his investors. Bai is also the founder of P2P lending platform Huaying Kailai, and some of the money Huaying Kailai investors put into the platform’s investment funds apparently went into funding the “straddle bus.” Now that the media is raising all sorts of questions about the project’s viability, investors are upset. Bai has reportedly been jetting around to places like the far-north county of Suihua to appease investors by treating them to meals and comedy shows.

Reportedly, Bai is telling investors that the media has gone sour on TEB because it’s a threat to established public transit options like subways and buses. The establishment, Bai seems to be arguing, is afraid of being disrupted. Perhaps true, but there are genuine practical concerns about the TEB’s design. Among them:

• The TEB isn’t high enough for trucks or even moderately-sized commercial vehicles to pass under.
• The TEB requires tracks and still obstructs the road to all cars whenever it turns
• Driving under the TEB could be dangerous. If there’s an object in the road under the bus and you need to swerve to avoid it, you might hit the walls of the TEB or another car.
• Cars under the TEB would have trouble seeing stoplights and signs, and cars in front of the TEB would have no obvious warning that it was about to overtake them.
• The TEB itself is too heavy, too expensive, and too tall – at 4.5 meters high it would smack right into some overpasses in Chinese cities.

Between those concerns and the investor outrage, it doesn’t seem likely that the TEB will be taking to China’s streets anytime too soon. But it definitely isn’t dead. Bai Danqing clearly isn’t ready to give up, and perhaps as a form of self-motivation he recently posted a famous Steve Jobs quote to his Weibo account:

Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Keep that crazy dream alive, Bai!