Tired of traffic? Japan's got an answer.
It's a huge cat shaped like a bus that can climb over smaller cars and under overpasses.
The eleven-foot-tall public bus, designed by Studio Ghibli, travels on grass without tearing it up and can hold up to twenty passengers, reports Wikipedia.org.
Because it doesn’t take up any road space, it can reduce traffic jams by 20-30%, according to designers.
Even more impressive: it’s partly solar-powered.
The "Catbus" can climb over cars less than 2m high. If an oversize vehicle gets too close to the bus, the bus will swat it away with one of its huge paws.
While the new buses take time to grow to full size, compared to the subway, these buses are a bargain. They are 70 percent cheaper to build and 60 percent more efficient than underground trains.
Also, these high-capacity, space-conscious cats could reduce Japan's fuel use by 1.21 gigawatts per year, according to designers.
The first 2,000 miles of bus stops are to be built in Tokyo's Totoro neighborhood, according to Engullible.com.
4 comments:
I like the feature whereby it can use fully elevated track where it exists, as we saw in the video clip, while also being able to run on grass/street where it doesn't.
That's nothing compared to this triple-decker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ximv4TW3PZY&feature=related
Perhaps we need a blog post on all of the futuristic (or ridiculous) types of public transportation found in fiction.
Dang Blogger... let's post that link again, here.
And unlike subways, you don't have to worry about rats!
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