Bus So Big You Can Drive Under It Debuts in China

The futuristic bus can carry 300 riders and is environmentally friendly.

ByABC News
August 3, 2016, 11:16 AM
People watch the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 during a test run in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province.
People watch the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 during a test run in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province.
Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via AP

— -- China has taken the idea of a double-decker bus and expanded it even further with a massive new vehicle that can literally drive over other cars on the road.

The futuristic 75-feet-long, 25-feet-wide Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), straddles an entire roadway and lets cars pass underneath it.

PHOTO: A woman walking with a bicycle looks at the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 2, 2016.
A woman walking with a bicycle looks at the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 2, 2016.

The electric-powered bus is designed to ride over traffic and help ease congestion without the need for tunnels or elevated tracks. It can carry 300 passengers, according to China's state-run media agency Xinhua News.

The TEB conducted a test-run yesterday in Qinhuangdao, a city in northern China's Hebei Province.

PHOTO: People walk through the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 during a test run after it was unveiled in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 2, 2016.
People walk through the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 during a test run after it was unveiled in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 2, 2016.

"The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space," Song Youzhou, chief engineer of the TEB project, told Xinhua in May, when the concept design was first unveiled.

The bus could replace around 40 conventional buses, potentially saving more than 800 metric tonnes (around 882 tons) of fuel per year and dramatically reducing carbon emissions, Youzhou told Xinhua. This new form of public transportation could provide much needed support for China, as the country struggles to reduce severe air pollution in its cities.