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中评社北京8月19日电／地铁造价高，BRT占道，用什么方法能比较好地解决地面公共交通难题呢？看看这项深圳企业发明的立体快巴吧。它是地面火车和汽车的结合体，系车可从快巴底下穿过。昨天这一发明登上了纽约时报的封面报道。

　　2米以下小车可从它底下穿行

　　据南方都市报报道，该发明设计者宋有洲介绍，这项公共交通新技术的设计理念，充分利用小汽车上部的空间，上面搭载乘客，底层是镂空的，小轿车面包车都可从快巴中间穿行，从而实现地铁和BR T的主要功能───快速交通。

　　“BRT占用道路资源，而且增加交通拥堵。地铁造价高，施工周期长，投资大，而我设计的立体快巴，全部造价仅为5000万。”宋有洲表示这5000万元用于道路的简单改造以及车辆生产费用，但每次可搭载乘客达上千人。

　　根据宋有洲提供的示意图，这种快巴分为四节，每节长10米，底层高度为2.2米，总高度为4.5米，横跨两个行车道。模拟效果显示，它如同一辆在公路上奔跑的短列车，并且下层底下可以通行2米以下的小汽车，互不干扰，以此避免公交车和小汽车争路的现状。

　　今年底将在北京试运营
　　
　　宋有洲表示他的发明于去年年底设计完成，目前已经获得国家专利。该发明今年在北京举行的科博会上首度公开亮相后，一炮走红。中央电视台、纽约时报等多家媒体对他的发明都很感兴趣，纷纷进行报道。目前这项设计的全部图纸将于本月底完成，现已联合南车集团进行制造生产，预计今年年底将在北京门头沟投入试运营。

　　这项发明在网上引起网友的热烈讨论。有网友担心，轿车在下面走会不会影响司机视线，从而引发交通事故，还有网友质疑这么大体积的车辆该如何解决拐弯问题。宋有洲表示，这些问题他在设计时都有所考虑。比如下层行驶车辆的视线问题。由于快巴底层两侧是镂空的，且有很多参照物，所以即使在下层行驶，也不会影响司机视线。对于拐弯问题，宋有洲称，立体快巴完全参照BR T交通信号原理，当它与轿车同步行驶时，一旦遇到路口、转弯情况，前方红灯及快巴身上的红灯会亮，轿车先停十几秒，待快巴转弯后再走。大多数网友对这种新概念公交的创新性表示赞许，认为它首次实现火车与公交车的结合。

　　这种新发明何时能与深圳市民见面呢？宋有洲表示，他将带这项发明参加11月在深圳举行的高交会。


科博会上“立体快巴”模型正在演示其“空中公交”的功能，外形与地铁或城铁列车有些相似。

两大疑问

　　1、下层行车会否影响视线？

　　宋有洲：由于快巴底层两侧是镂空的，且有很多参照物，所以即使在下层行驶，也不会影响司机视线。

　　2、如何解决拐弯问题？

　　宋有洲：立体快巴完全参照BR T交通信号原理，当它与轿车同步行驶时，一旦遇到路口、转弯情况，前方红灯及快巴身上的红灯会亮，轿车先停十几秒，待快巴转弯后再走。


立体快巴发明人 宋有洲


HONG KONG — What do you do if your roads are congested and polluted? Try designing a vehicle that takes up no road space. And make it partly solar powered.
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Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment
A rendering of the “straddling bus,” which requires neither elevated tracks nor extensive tunneling.
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Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment
Rendering of the bus on the road. The vehicle would run on a combination of solar power and municipal electricity.
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A company in the southern Chinese town of Shenzhen has done just that. To address the country’s problems with traffic and air quality, Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment has developed a decidedly odd-looking, extra-wide and extra-tall vehicle that can carry up to 1,200 passengers.

Though it is called the “straddling bus,” Huashi’s invention resembles a train in many respects — but it requires neither elevated tracks nor extensive tunneling. Its passenger compartment spans the width of two traffic lanes and sits high above the road surface, on a pair of fencelike stilts that leave the road clear for ordinary cars to pass underneath. It runs along a fixed route.

Huashi Future Parking’s outsize invention — six meters, or about 20 feet, wide — is to be powered by a combination of municipal electricity and solar power derived from panels mounted on the roofs of the vehicles and at bus stops.

A pilot project for the vehicle is in the works in Beijing, and several other Chinese cities have shown interest.

The company says the vehicle — which will travel at an average speed of 40 kilometers an hour, or about 25 m.p.h. — could reduce traffic jams by 25 to 30 percent on main routes.

The straddling bus could replace up to 40 conventional buses, potentially saving the 860 tons of fuel that 40 buses would consume annually, and preventing 2,640 tons of carbon emissions, said Youzhou Song, the vehicle’s designer.

“I had the idea when I was doing research on the road for the designs of innovative parking slots for bikes and cars,” Mr. Song, who founded the company with several partners in 2009, said by phone last week. “I saw the traffic jams and wondered if it’s possible to make buses high up in the air as well.”

The design highlights a range of issues that have come with China’s explosive economic growth.

The nation’s urban population has expanded rapidly in recent years. In a report last year, the consulting firm McKinsey estimated that an additional 350 million people — more than the population of the United States — would move to the cities by 2015. More than 220 cities will have more than one million people. By comparison, Europe has 35 such cities now.

All this has caused a vast need for urban infrastructure, with McKinsey estimating that 170 new mass transit systems could be built in China by 2025.

At the same time, rising affluence has caused the number of cars — and traffic jams — to soar.

China is the world’s largest polluter, and Beijing is eager to reduce carbon emissions. The authorities have been pushing solar power and fuel-efficient transportation.

Huashi’s invention appears to have received a preliminary seal of approval from Beijing. The capital’s Mentougou district is testing the technology and plans to start building nine kilometers of route at the end of this year. If the test is successful, about 116 miles would be put in place.

“Mr. Song’s design is in line with our concept of green transportation and our vision of the future. We hope to start the construction and operation as soon as possible,” said Wenbo Zhang, head of the science and technology commission of Mentougou district, though he added that the necessary approvals would take time and investment.

Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, and Wuhu, in Anhui Province, have also applied to obtain financing for straddling bus systems, Mr. Song said, while Luzhou in Sichuan Province has shown interest.

The vehicles will be built by the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation starting at the end of this month, Mr. Song said.

The cost of construction — 50 million renminbi, or $7.4 million, for one bus and about 25 miles of route facilities — is roughly one-tenth what it costs to build a subway of the same length, he said.

Huashi Future Parking’s more modest inventions include space-saving vertical bicycle-parking sheds. The bike sheds have been sold to the municipal government of Nanchang, in Jiangxi Province, and to a factory in Dongguan, in the southern province of Guangdong, Mr. Song said.

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