On Aug 5, 1:37*pm, Mizter T wrote:

[x-posted to uk.transport.london, uk.transport.buses]

On Aug 5, 1:20*pm, CJB wrote:

Incredible bus is also a tunnel

Chinese designers have come up with an innovative cost-effective
public transport system: the tunnel bus.

The remarkable bus straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to
drive underneath while it carries up to 1,200 passengers.

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/04082010/36...-tunnel-0.html

A pretty wild and fanciful idea... paging Boris...

(Being serious - is this really on the agenda in Beijing, even as some
sort of pilot or test scheme? A monorail - perhaps a hanging one - *or
otherwise elevated light rail might be a better ways of tackling the
land use issue that I assume is the root of what this idea is trying
to address.)

Here's some more information about the whole idea, including a video
presentation about it - the video is in Chinese (wot I don't speak),
but the CGI segments illustrate the concept:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/02/c...e-under-video/
or via http://tinyurl.com/2evkd3n
(Thanks to Mike Civil who posted this link in another uk.railway
thread.)

Seems some people at least are taking the whole idea very seriously. I
wonder if one could look at ideas/ concepts/ schemes such as this and
draw comparisons of China's current phase of industrial development
with those of say western Europe (or indeed the Eastern bloc) in the
past - i.e. there's an atmosphere of 'can-do' where big ideas, however
potentially 'out there', get an airing.

(Perhaps a certain contributor to this newsgroup should be heading
east...)