New Low-carbon Elevated Bus to Ease U.S. Traffic
Song Youzhou, inventor of the Straddling Bus announced that his company in Shenzhen, China, has formed a U.S.-based company to handle partnerships and licensing of an extraordinary vehicle. Their American venture, US Elevated High-Speed Bus (Group) Inc., has responsibility for business development in the Americas and Europe. The new company is interested in partnering with U.S. specialized vehicle manufacturers to build Song’s design. The company is also seeking transportation industry manufacturer’s representatives for Central America, South America and Europe.
The Elevated High-Speed Bus carries passengers above street level and can travel on rails or special painted guidelines. The bus straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to drive underneath the passenger compartment. The vehicle is designed for passenger mass transit and requires little infrastructure. Each “Elevated High-Speed Bus” has 4 compartments that accommodate hundreds of passengers combined. The top speed of “Elevated High-speed Bus” is 80 km/hour and average speed of 40 km/hour. The average speed of an ordinary bus in a large city is about 20 km/hour with a fraction of the total passenger capacity.
The first projects will be in China, beginning 2011, where vehicle traffic problems have caused delays lasting days. “The word revolutionary is so overused, but this new bus actually is revolutionary” says Mark Shieh, a spokesman for the new venture. “Relative to the cost of a subway line or other rail transit, our bus delivers extraordinary value. Aside from the low cost, the time for construction is about one third that for a subway.”.
Song said, "The Elevated High-Speed Bus is an ultra low-carbon producer, environmentally friendly and high-efficiency project. It solves the problems found with ordinary fuel-consuming buses that include air pollution, carbon emissions, and low energy efficiency. Our bus is fueled by municipal electricity and solar power which is supplemented by solar energy gleaned from the roof. The Elevated High-Speed Bus combines the merits of Bus Rapid Transit and a subway."
The benefits of the Elevated High-Speed Bus Program to a large city are:
• Reduction of traffic congestion.
• Faster than a normal busses that move at the pace of traffic.
• Larger passenger capacity than a normal bus.
• Reduction of million tons of fuel consumption per year.
• Reduction of air pollution and carbon emissions.
• Lower construction cost and less construction time.
• Creation of jobs.
“An ideal partner for us would be a RV, Motor home, Aircraft, Train or Bus manufacturer with production facilities in the U.S. who is looking to diversify. We hope to leverage not only their manufacturing capabilities, but also their domestic and export sales channels. In return, we’ll deliver the design and fully developed concept,” Shieh said.