China’s elevated bus is claimed to be a scam – reports

Transit Elevated Bus China 3

Remember China’s Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), which recently underwent its first test run in Qinhuangdao last week? Well, according to local Chinese reports, the whole project could potentially be nothing more than a big scam.

First showcased during the 19th China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in May this year, the straddling train/bus (TEB-1) test unit measures 22 meters in length, 7.8 meters in width and stands at 4.8 meters tall. Although the first trial run of TEB-1 may appear to be “successful,” things aren’t as they appear.

For starters, the test wasn’t really a street test at all, according to CarNewsChina and the Xinhua News Agency. The TEB merely travelled down a 300-meter stretch of closed road, without the regular flow of traffic beneath it. Additionally, it’s unclear how the vehicle would turn or even accommodate vehicles that are over 2.1 meters tall (the maximum height of vehicles on the road in China is 4.2 to 4.5 meters).

Transit-Elevated-Bus-China-1

To make matters worse, though it may be called the Transit Elevated Bus, it isn’t even a bus as it runs on tracks, making it more of a train (as you can tell already). The station built for the pilot voyage was allegedly built in just two months, and featured poor workmanship, with the paint already peeling in certain areas.

Chinese state media outlets have claimed that the TEB project is actually a scam to obtain funds from investors. The project was funded by peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, where an online company matches potential investors with borrowers, promising a high interest return. P2P platforms operate in an unregulated grey area in China, with fraud being rampant in the sector.

However, the founders of the TEB project refuted such allegations and said the funds for the project comes from “private, individual investors.” It remains to be seen if the TEB project is a scam or a legitimate attempt at alleviating the traffic woes in the country.

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Gerard Lye

Originating from the corporate world with a background in finance and economics, Gerard’s strong love for cars led him to take the plunge into the automotive media industry. It was only then did he realise that there are more things to a car than just horsepower count.

 

Comments

  • Scam is our everyday in Bolehland. But our job is certain. To pay the gomen’s debt

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 29 Thumb down 23
    • hailthepurist on Aug 09, 2016 at 3:12 pm

      scam buddies..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
      • Just like 1MDB

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 7
        • Just like undersea tunne… oh wai

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 6
          • Same L00 on Aug 10, 2016 at 11:01 am

            Very much like the “game changer” Iriz, “best car ever” Suprima S, “gorgeous” New Perdana and the “Smart Guys Got It” Inspira.
            A lot of huuhaa talkok drama but no sales. End of the days these are just the excuses to get RM1.6b pocket money only.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 5
    • AutoFrenz (the original) on Aug 09, 2016 at 7:16 pm

      China and scamming is inseparable…one cannot live without the other…a perfect match made in heaven…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 31 Thumb down 5
  • Black Dog on Aug 09, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    Scam or not, I think this project can be successful, if not now maybe later. All the negativity the writer mentioned can easily be overcome. If a tram can ride alongside cars on the road in so many cities, why not this? Height can easily be increased with height barriers place on certain roads. It’s wheels can also easily be separated from traffic with barriers. Of course this can be applicable only for certain high density roads which China has a lot of them. Dreams do come true, only critics and doomsayers are failures.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 26
    • If the dream is to own fake house, with fake waifu, eating fake rice with fake eggs & fake chicken while feeding fake baby with fake milk, wearing my fake suit with fake rolex, going to fake job in fake applestore, using fake bus in a fake state inside fake county. Then I duwan this dream.

      Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 57 Thumb down 3
    • The first time I saw this I also taught about the height issue. Then, there’s the road sign, emergency lane, safe margin between the bus and vehicles (you don’t want to s*** in your pants every time it zoom passed you), etc. Conclusion is they’ll need to rethink how roads must be build first.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0
  • ElevatedScamBus on Aug 09, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    They are really good at con jobs in china, to think they can built this thing just to scam investor is really something. I read in china’s newspaper the bus quality is totally poor is worth only for prop in a stage !

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 24 Thumb down 1
  • This is a prototype and proof-of-concept. I think it is a mismatched of expectation. If the builder is pushing it as ready for production and deployment then obviously it is not the case.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 2
  • China Bang on Aug 09, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    lol

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Scam/fake project from mainland china.. why i’m i not surprise.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 4
  • These people just hoping to get funding from unsuspected parties.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • superdriver on Aug 09, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Pity, there is so much potential even if its a bus.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • wan jamak on Aug 09, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    China… what do you expect?

    even baby milk powder also they are willing to fake! people of uncivilised mentality.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 39 Thumb down 6
  • Bernard on Aug 09, 2016 at 3:30 pm

    No need to be surprised or shocked at all. Only to be expected.

    When they point their finger at others, there are four fingers and a thumb pointing back at them!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • I guess we also have that kind of scam in Malaysia, it’s called Sunway BRT.

    Extremely-expensive-to-built and extremely-expensive-fares for a bus service.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • Ahmadjr on Aug 09, 2016 at 7:19 pm

    What do you guys expect? Even j. Low guy can con our dear leader to borrow billions of ringgit for the you know which company

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 4
  • phan thot on Aug 09, 2016 at 8:41 pm

    hahahahahahahahahaha! told you! china people still berak in the middle of the road and eat dogs! youtube it guys! lol! lol!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2
  • Middle Age Driver (Member) on Aug 09, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    I see that this overhead people carrier can replace tramps that currently travel on tracts parallel to road traffic. It has much higher capacity than tramps. There are always the argument that vehicle below can crash into it. Yes it is no different than risk of cars crashing into trams while travelling on lines now. High side curbs can be build into road shoulders to prevent such accidents accept for crossing areas. To have a working prototype like this is enough to proof the concept is workable. The height of vehicle can be tailored to real needs. Overall its much cheaper than building overhead concrete tracts.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • So org China tabouleh pakai? oh wai… I see what u did there.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3
 

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