We had a feeling something fishy was going on. Because there was just no way this enormous futuristic-looking elevated bus could ever really be the future of public transport in Beijing.
When we first heard of the Transit Elevated Bus, as it is called, we were skeptical. And when we heard that it had actually been taken for a test drive last week, our minds were kind of boggled.
But it turns out that this so-called “test drive” wasn’t exactly the real thing.
The TEB-1, a single-car model of the bus, was taken for a spin last Tuesday in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province. The story went viral shortly after. But what first appeared to be a successful trial run of the TEB-1 shortly turned into a nightmare for the super-bus’ Beijing-based developers.
It was previously announced that the first-ever TEB-1 is expected to be completed by 2017 at a facility in Zhoukou City, Henan Province. However, it has now been reported that said facility hasn’t passed necessary inspections, Xinhua reports.
Funding for the project has also come under scrutiny since last week’s test run. The Transit Elevated Bus project is run by Huaying Kailai, an online crowd-lending platform. However, Huaying Kailai is now suspected of illegally obtaining funds from the public, Beijing News reports.
To make matters worse, Qinhuangdao officials have stated that the city knew nothing about the test run and that it was a private event held by the company.
The super bus was designed to carry up to 1,400 passengers and would supposedly help ease traffic in cities like Beijing. It is estimated that it would also cut annual fuel consumption by 800 tons and carbon emissions by 2,500.
As of now, however, all trial runs have been postponed. And the future of the elevated bus does not look good.
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