# China to Build Giant Friggin's Buses You Can Drive Underneath **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 9, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679 "2010-08-09T05:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/1 "2010-08-09T05:38:07Z")
This looks too cool. Giant public buses that cars can simply drive under. See them [here](http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/02/china-to-build-ginormous-buses-that-cars-can-drive-under-video/). We could use these in Bangkok. EDIT: And naturally I screwed up Friggin’ in the title. Could a Mod please take off the S? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/2 "2010-08-09T06:36:50Z")
I saw that a few days ago. A few questions did spring to mind. Are they really busses? It looks like the wheels run in dedicated tracks. How do people get in and out? The doors are on the upper level, so there’ll have to be elevated stations built along the route. If they’re going to all that trouble, why not just build an elevated train? These busses seem like the worst of both worlds; having to deal with signals and street-level traffic, and all the expense of laying new tracks and building stations. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/3 "2010-08-09T07:14:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Are they really busses? It looks like the wheels run in dedicated tracks. > . You’re right - I think a better definition would be “streetcars”. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/4 "2010-08-09T14:06:04Z")
I saw this as well. It looked to me like the “bus” was actually on tracks, and might be described as an elevated train. I think it looks like a pipe dream. What happens when someone stops on the track during a traffic jam? The bus/train/dingus has to come to a stop. If 2 cars have an accident on that street, then I bet that they block one or both of the tracks, again stopping the “bus”. And I’m sure that some tourist or country bumpkin coming to town will freak out when one of these straddles him, and try to turn and drive through that side wall. I don’t expect to see this any time soon. Too impractical, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/5 "2010-08-09T15:12:45Z")
They’re supposed to start laying down the first 186 kilometers of track later this year in Beijing. Perhaps that’s what makes it more desirable than an elevated train? The distance involved? Sounds like they’re planning an extensive system, and maybe this will save on costs by simply laying a rail on each side of a road or lane? Looks like there’s a railed and a railless system involved, so maybe that’s what qualifies it as a bus? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/6 "2010-08-09T15:14:53Z")
Looks like something from the cover of a 1915 copy of _Air Wonder Stories_ or something. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/7 "2010-08-09T19:58:23Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Looks like something from the cover of a 1915 copy of _Air Wonder Stories_ or something. I was going to say Popular Science. The number of problems that such a system could and would cause are hard to number. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/8 "2010-08-09T20:05:08Z")
I don’t understand how it will be high enough to clear regular busses/trucks on the road, but low enough to drive beneath underpasses, and still have room for people. Does your average delivery truck have 10’ of clearance through an underpass? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/9 "2010-08-09T21:47:51Z")
> [@RalfCoder](#): > > I saw this as well. It looked to me like the “bus” was actually on tracks, and might be described as an elevated train. I think it looks like a pipe dream. What happens when someone stops on the track during a traffic jam? The bus/train/dingus has to come to a stop. If 2 cars have an accident on that street, then I bet that they block one or both of the tracks, again stopping the “bus”. Seems to me those problems already arise with current public transit that runs on tracks that are in or that cross public streets (streetcars, LRTs, etc). If some idiot gets stuck or gets into an accident on our LRT tracks they stop the LRT from going anywhere (and the idiot’s car probably gets seriously smucked in the process). ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/10 "2010-08-09T23:51:27Z")
I’ve been stuck in 90-minute traffic jams every other day when bussing it to work recently, so I hope these things become a reality. Certainly more of a tram or streetcar than a bus, though. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/11 "2010-08-10T04:40:57Z")
The Mods still haven’t removed that S in the title. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/12 "2017-07-03T16:56:10Z")
Updating this thread, unfortunately Dopers are going to be horribly disappointed: **It’s official: China suspects its “car-eating,” traffic-straddling bus is a total scam** > [@](#): > > China’s futuristic “car-eating” bus, already dead in its tracks, is now the focus of an investigation. > In theory, the Transit Elevated Bus, or TEB, is an electrically powered, 300-passenger vehicle that moves atop tracks straddling the highway while allowing road traffic to flow below. Billed as a potential answer to China’s notorious traffic congestion and air pollution, the TEB conducted its first road test run last August in the northeastern port city of Qinghuangdao, but has since mostly sat idly as a giant roadblock… > > On Sunday (July 2), police in Beijing announced that it had started an investigation into the company behind the TEB for alleged illegal fundraising. More than 30 people associated with Huaying Kailai, an online financing platform that has been selling an investment product to raise money from individual investors to develop the bus, have been held… > **[It’s official: China suspects its “car-eating,” traffic-straddling bus is a...](https://qz.com/1020128/its-official-china-suspects-its-car-eating-traffic-straddling-bus-is-a-total-scam)** > > A giant bus seen from the start as impractical by transport experts appears to have raised over $1 billion from individual investors. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/13 "2017-07-03T17:01:33Z")
It sounds like a great idea. What could go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/14 "2017-07-03T17:09:48Z")
I _do_ like that they settled on the name, “Car-Eating Bus”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/15 "2017-07-03T17:16:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It sounds like a great idea. > What could go wrong? No kidding. I nearly wet my pants laughing at the concept. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/16 "2017-07-03T18:36:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > No kidding. I nearly wet my pants laughing at the concept. This from the country where portable execution chambers are driven from one village to the next in vans, no doubt announcing their arrival with “Turkey in the Straw”. Now wait a minute, execution vans and big gigantic buses… ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/17 "2017-07-03T18:38:53Z")
What about going under bridges ? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/18 "2017-07-03T18:53:25Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > What about going under bridges ? I don’t believe the execution vans have a problem with bridges. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/19 "2017-07-03T18:55:44Z")
My grandmother used to tell me bedtime stories about Giant Friggin. He used to eat people, so it’s good to hear he’s found a place in the modern world designing buses. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679/20 "2017-07-03T18:56:19Z")
I could have told them that Giant Friggin was a con man all along. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-to-build-giant-friggins-buses-you-can-drive-underneath/549679.md?page=2)