In an attempt to ease Beijing's heavily-congested traffic, the city will begin testing giant "car-straddling" public buses, built to allow two lanes of cars to drive underneath its massive passenger compartment. Standing 14-feet tall and 20-feet wide, the energy-saving gargantuan vehicles can carry between 1,200 and 1,400 passengers at a top speed of 37 mph, and are much more efficient to produce than a new subway line. Should U.S. cities adopt the behemoth buses? This "cunning project" actually "makes a lot of sense," says Richard Lai in Engadget. The buses will "make use of the space between regular-size cars and bridges, thus saving construction costs as well as minimizing congestion." Personally, says Robert Quigley in Geekosystem, I'm a little wary about the "radar scanning system" that's supposed to warn the cars inside the bus if they're getting too close to its wheels: "Sounds like a recipe for trouble." Watch the buses in action:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floodsCartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Europe's heatwave: the new front line of climate changeIn the Spotlight How will the continent adapt to 'bearing the brunt of climate change'?
