Behold, the bus of the future

　　It looks rather like a futuristic stretch limousine, but its actual function is rather more populist: the Superbus is a novel publictransport system being developed in the Netherlands by the Delft University of Technology. It is an electric bus designed to be able to switch seamlessly between ordinary roads and dedicated supertracks , on which it can reach speeds of 250kph . It could thus present an alternative to much more expensive magneticlevitation trains.

　　Though it is as wide and long as a standard city bus, the Superbus is only 1.7 meters high, or roughly the same height as a sportsutility vehicle. Joris Melkert, the projects manager, explains that the designers managed to keep the Superbus this small by doing away with the central aisle usually found in todays buses, a vestigial design feature that allows passengers to stand upright, but also gives conventional buses the aerodynamic profile of a brick.

　　The lowriding Superbus, in contrast, has a separate door for each of its 30odd seats. The low ceiling and the use of lightweight materials make for a far more streamlined vehicle, which in turn requires only a modest electric motor: though engineers have not yet decided whether the Superbus will be powered by fuel cells or batteries, they estimate that it will be able to accelerate from rest to 100kph in a leisurely 36 seconds.

　　The individual doors also allow for rapid loading and unloading of passengers, which will need to be fast if the Superbus is to live up to its promised door to door mission: instead of making predetermined stops, the vehicle will pick up and drop off passengers based on their textmessaged requests. This kind of flexibility is a central tenet of the project; the estimated three year lifespan of a Superbus will also allow the latest technologies to be phased in quickly as they become available.

　　To start with, that might include satellite based tracking to keep the Superbus on course, sensors to scan the road for obstacles up to 300 meters ahead and a smart suspension system that remembers the rough spots in the road.

　　Some detractors have suggested that making so many stops would erode the Superbuss speed advantage, and others question whether a new cog in the Netherlands already intricate transport infrastructure is even needed. Furthermore, the Superbus does not yet exist, whereas maglev trains are already operating successfully in Shanghai.

　　The future of the project is uncertain. Its intended route, a new transport link connecting Amsterdam with the northern city of Groningen, was recently scrapped by the Dutch government . In spite of the setback, the project has since received an extra 7m in government funding, plus 1m from Connexxion, a local bus company. The Superbus teams latest plan is to unveil a fully functional prototype at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. With its combination of low emissions, high speed and snazzy design, this might prove to be a bus that is.

　　Behold, the bus of the future

　　It looks rather like a futuristic stretch limousine, but its actual function is rather more populist: the Superbus is a novel publictransport system being developed in the Netherlands by the Delft University of Technology. It is an electric bus designed to be able to switch seamlessly between ordinary roads and dedicated supertracks , on which it can reach speeds of 250kph . It could thus present an alternative to much more expensive magneticlevitation trains.

　　Though it is as wide and long as a standard city bus, the Superbus is only 1.7 meters high, or roughly the same height as a sportsutility vehicle. Joris Melkert, the projects manager, explains that the designers managed to keep the Superbus this small by doing away with the central aisle usually found in todays buses, a vestigial design feature that allows passengers to stand upright, but also gives conventional buses the aerodynamic profile of a brick.

　　The lowriding Superbus, in contrast, has a separate door for each of its 30odd seats. The low ceiling and the use of lightweight materials make for a far more streamlined vehicle, which in turn requires only a modest electric motor: though engineers have not yet decided whether the Superbus will be powered by fuel cells or batteries, they estimate that it will be able to accelerate from rest to 100kph in a leisurely 36 seconds.

　　The individual doors also allow for rapid loading and unloading of passengers, which will need to be fast if the Superbus is to live up to its promised door to door mission: instead of making predetermined stops, the vehicle will pick up and drop off passengers based on their textmessaged requests. This kind of flexibility is a central tenet of the project; the estimated three year lifespan of a Superbus will also allow the latest technologies to be phased in quickly as they become available.

　　To start with, that might include satellite based tracking to keep the Superbus on course, sensors to scan the road for obstacles up to 300 meters ahead and a smart suspension system that remembers the rough spots in the road.

　　Some detractors have suggested that making so many stops would erode the Superbuss speed advantage, and others question whether a new cog in the Netherlands already intricate transport infrastructure is even needed. Furthermore, the Superbus does not yet exist, whereas maglev trains are already operating successfully in Shanghai.

　　The future of the project is uncertain. Its intended route, a new transport link connecting Amsterdam with the northern city of Groningen, was recently scrapped by the Dutch government . In spite of the setback, the project has since received an extra 7m in government funding, plus 1m from Connexxion, a local bus company. The Superbus teams latest plan is to unveil a fully functional prototype at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. With its combination of low emissions, high speed and snazzy design, this might prove to be a bus that is.