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Behold, the bus of the future NO.6

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 publicª²transport 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 (155mph). It could thus present an alternative to much more expensive magneticª²levitation 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 sportsª²utility vehicle. Joris Melkert, the project's manager, explains that the designers managed to keep the Superbus this small by doing away with the central aisle usually found in today's buses, a vestigial design feature that allows passengers to stand upright, but also gives conventional buses the aerodynamic profile of a brick.

¡¡¡¡The lowª²riding Superbus, in contrast, has a separate door for each of its 30ª²odd 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 doorª²toª²door mission: instead of making predetermined stops, the vehicle will pick up and drop off passengers based on their textª²messaged requests. This kind of flexibility is a central tenet of the project; the estimated threeª²year lifespan of a Superbus (as opposed to thirteen years for a standard European bus) will also allow the latest technologies to be phased in quickly as they become available.

¡¡¡¡To start with, that might include satelliteª²based 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 Superbus's speed advantage, and others question whether a new cog in the Netherlands' alreadyª²intricate 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 (although the Superbus was deemed the most feasible of all the options considered, which also included a maglev train). In spite of the setback, the project has since received an extra 7m ($9m) in government funding, plus 1m from Connexxion, a local bus company. The Superbus team's 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.

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