Workers start demolishing a test site for the "straddling bus" in Qinhuangdao City, north China's Hebei Province, June 21, 2017. (Photo/China News Service)
(ECNS) -- Workers have started demolishing a test site for the futuristic "straddling bus" in Qinhuangdao City, north China's Hebei Province, as the land contract is set to expire.
The 22-meter-long Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) was envisioned to allow cars to pass underneath and maintain traffic flow. It had a test run at a newly built site in Qinghuangdao's Beidaihe District in August last year.
But questions about its technical feasibility and application, as well as the Beijing-based developer's financial health, have bogged it down.
Tests on the TEB stopped last October and the site had only two people working as keepers, according to local residents. Last December, some residents living nearby complained the test site affected transportation.
A source said the Beidaihe District government has refused the developer's appeal to extend the land contract that will expire in July.
Now the transport vehicle has had its power connection cut off, and the test rails are being removed.
The local government has yet to publicly confirm the decision.
