China’s wild ‘straddling bus’ is literally abandoned in a rusty shed

Back in May, the internet went wild over a strange futuristic bus designed to drive above traffic-trapped cars. Unveiled at the China Beijing International High-Tech Expo, the novel Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) could purportedly carry 1,200 riders and be built for just 20 percent of the cost of a subway, and in a fraction of the time.

Reports claimed the first TEB would hit the streets of port city Qinhuangdao by the end of the year, but in August, accounts surfaced that the firm behind the bus—TEB Technology Development Company—had mislead investors about its feasibility and state media even called the whole thing a scam. Then, in September, the company said it would in fact begin road testing its innovative design.

However, a local Qinhuangdao reporter just tracked down the lone TEB prototype and found it gathering dust in a rusty shed. A security guard at the site said that managers from the company had disappeared weeks ago and that he’d been unable to contact them.

Apparently the abandoned vehicle is sitting on a 300-meter bit of road leased for about another year by its creators from the city of Qinhuangdao. Blocking three lanes of traffic, the TEB has started to annoy local residents for rendering their road unusable.

A peek back at its better days:

Via: Shanghaiist