The mysterious lure of a failed bus project

Imagine a bus with an elevated passenger compartment that spans the width of two traffic lanes, with its undercarriage fitted with wheels riding along the edges of the two lanes to allow vehicles less than 2 meters high to pass underneath.

Well, a self-proclaimed inventor Song Youzhou designed such a bus, called the transit elevated bus, in 2010. Last year, his partner made a prototype and gave it an easy-to-remember name: Batie.

But the prototype failed the road test last August. It could only travel 100 meters in a straight line without making any turn.