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Re:China has built an elevated bus that travels above car tr... by lmm on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @06:13AM (#12216898)
How much space does it actually save? The two sides probably add up to as much volume as a conventional tram line. If you made an ordinary double-deck tram the same length the capacity for the same "footprint" would be not a whole lot less, and it would probably be more stable - therefore able to go faster.

How much space do the stations take up? Those elevated platforms have got to be more expensive than a tram stop, and they won't be accessible without space-consuming ramps and/or expensive lifts that require maintenance. Speaking of which, how do passengers safely move from station to "bus" at that height? At a minimum you're talking about deploying ramps or similar, which will make the stops take longer. And what about away from stops? In my part of western Europe all new public transport is legally required to have disabled-accessible evacuation facilities through the whole length of its route - if this thing got into a crash, how do even able-bodied passengers get out?

How's it getting its power? I don't see any overhead wires but I do see some kind of tracks under the wheels, so we're probably talking about live electricity in the roadway. That's dangerous, and prone to getting shorted out by road debris or the like.

The thing can only run above ordinary cars - a lorry in either lane blocks it - so I'm not sure it will actually be able to travel that much faster than a conventional tram. If you're willing to restrict the road to standard-height cars, a monorail suspended over the roadway would offer better stability (so higher speed) and safer power supply (though it still has the evacuation issues).

Re:China has built an elevated bus that travels above car tr... by Declanomous on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @12:23PM (#12219133)
>A monorail suspended over the roadway would offer better stability

Building elevated rail infrastructure is very expensive though. The material required to build infrastructure supporting a "tall bus" is substantially less. Furthermore, the bus doesn't contribute to visual pollution quite as much.

It might be slower than a train, but it's certainly faster than a normal bus. There are a few places I think this idea would be extremely helpful in Chicago. Our road system is a very regular grid, with major streets every 8 blocks, and semi-major streets every 4, both of which are signaled. Bus stops are usually at these intersections. These intersections are also the places where people are most likely to want to turn.

If you banned left turns outside of signaled intersections on these bus routes, and the bus stopped on the near side of every intersection, you wouldn't run the risk of the bus overtaking cars and hitting them. Instead, the bus would get a signal to move first, and cars could proceed afterwards.

Some of the slowest buses in Chicago are on routes that aren't served by trains. Trains only go to and from the central business district, and so you need to either take a bus or drive to go anywhere else. The immense volume of car traffic also slows down the buses, some of which are barely faster than walking speed. I used to live 4 miles from my job, but taking a bus would have taken over an hour. That is the time with a single transfer, 10 minute headways, and a bus stop in front of my apartment and a bus stop in front of my office.

Re:China has built an elevated bus that travels above car tr... by brohee on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @01:14PM (#12219604)
I didn't see numbers, but the two sides looks like they'd only be about as wide as a car lane, so not as wide as a tram lane, and the vehicule is possibly higher capacity than a tram...
Re:China has built an elevated bus that travels above car tr... by vonmoltke on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @03:18PM (#12220674)
> the two sides looks like they'd only be about as wide as a car lane, so not as wide as a tram lane

Are tram lanes in Europe larger than car lanes? Every streetcar I have seen in the US uses a standard car lane.