The elevated bus is 'a scam': China blasts its own radical public transport amid safety concerns (and claims the road test never happened)

The country's state media have labelled the Transit Elevated Bus a complete money-making scam[CN]

国家官媒将“立体快巴”标榜为“一场彻头彻尾的卷钱骗局”。

Government of Qinghuangdao have  claimed they were unaware of the test which took place last week[CN]

秦皇岛政府声称他们都没有注意到上周发生的立体快巴测试。

This comes despite state media releasing footage of the test in the Chinese city online[CN]

尽管官媒在中国城市网网上公布了测试的短视频，秦皇岛政府还是予以否认。

People have begun to question whether the bus is even tall enough to allow traffic to pass under[CN]

人们开始质疑这辆快巴是否够高，能够允许交通车辆从它底下通过。

Testing testing! The Transit Elevated Bus is tested on a road in Qinghuangdao, north China's Hebei province on August 2[CN]

测试测试！8月2号，立体巴士在秦皇岛（中国河北省北部）路上测试。

A bit confused: Despite pictures proving otherwise, Qinghuangdao's government says they were unaware of the test[CN]

稍有疑云：尽管有照片为证，秦皇岛政府还是声称他们对此次测试并不知情。

A cyclist passes by the vehicle as it goes through the first testing phase in the Chinese coastal city of Qinghuangdao[CN]

一名骑单车的人经过，立体巴士正处于第一测试阶段，测试地点：中国秦皇岛海岸城市。

Inside the giant elevated bus: The TEB can carry up to 300 passengers as it passes over traffic[CN]

巨无霸立体巴士内部图：立体巴士可承载300个乘客，穿梭于交通车辆中。

However the plausibility of the mode of transport is now being questioned when putting height limits into perspective[CN]

然而这貌似有理的交通模式受到质疑：高度方面似乎不够

Really? Qinghuangdao's government have claimed that they are unaware of any testing of the vehicle taking place[CN]

是真是假？秦皇岛政府声称他们对于这款交通工具的测试毫不知情。

The world may have loved the idea of the new Chinese elevated bus, but the country’s state media seems to have other ideas. [CN]

整个世界可能都还挺喜欢中国这种新型立体巴士，但是当地的官媒似乎有异议。

China’s state media has labelled the Transit Elevated Bus a complete scam, claiming that they were not even aware of last week’s test taking place, reports the People's Daily Online. 

But interestingly, footage   of a supposed test of the vehicle in Qinghuangdao, eastern China, was released last week by several Chinese state media organisations.

The test which the country's state media now claim they were not aware of, was allegedly held on August 2 in the coastal city of Qinghuangdao.

Video footage from the test shows the bus standing some two metres above the road running for 300 metres on a specially constructed track while two lanes of cars passed underneath.  

The 72-feet-long, 25-feet-wide and 15.7-feet-high TEB-1 can carry up to 300 passengers over the top of cars and let traffic pass underneath it.

The idea is that passengers sit far above other vehicles on the road, allowing cars to pass underneath.

The test in Qinhuangdao City, evaluated the braking system, drag and power consumption, according to tebtech, a company that helped build the TEB.

However there are now doubts about the vehicle with Qinghuangdao’s government saying that they were unaware of the test even taking place. 

According to Popular Mechanics, the project was funded by peer-to-peer lending, a model where online companies match investors with borrowers who promise a high interest in return for those who invest. This has caused Chinese media to label it a money-making scam.

While the Global Times went one step further claiming that the head of the project only has a primary school education.

The plausibility of the project was also put in the spotlight as people began to question if the bus was even tall enough to pass over traffic. 

The height limit for Chinese vehicles on the road is 14 feet or 13 feet depending on what type of road it is however the maximum height limit for the bus is just under 7 feet.