Police in Beijing have arrested 32 people for illegal fundraising linked to a scrapped project to create a "straddling bus" to beat traffic jams.
The futuristic idea to lift commuters above congestion quickly attracted international attention when it was launched last year - but was finally scrapped last month.
There had been growing speculation that it was no more than an investment scam.
In a statement, police said they were working to recover investors' assets.
Source: BBC News
Transit Elevated Bus (Wikipedia)
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday July 05 2017, @10:51AM (5 children)
that got some funding.
They built some (a?) model. That got more funding.
wonkey_monkey was correct:
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=13732&cid=350797#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Just because there was a model, doesn't make the actual bus/train/car eater a real vehicle.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:03PM (1 child)
This town needs a monorail!
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:07AM
But Main Street's still all cracked and broken!
Sorry Mom - the mob needs karma
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday July 07 2017, @05:25AM (2 children)
> Just because there was a model, doesn't make the actual bus/train/car eater a real vehicle.
They built a full-scale, functioning vehicle and a short test track.
/article.pl?sid=16/08/04/0815253 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday July 07 2017, @08:08AM (1 child)
Models can be 1:1.
Also, the test track didn't have "regular" (ie, insane) local traffic.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday July 07 2017, @03:40PM
> Models can be 1:1.
Yes, they certainly can. I informed you that they built a functioning vehicle and linked to a story about it. It was built at full scale; it moved under its own power, and it carried people. In the story to which you linked, the model is obviously smaller than that, too small for people to enter. It's a miniature. I assumed that you didn't know they'd built a full-scale, working example. You had written:
Clearly you maintain that position. Perhaps my assumption was wrong, and you intentionally linked to the miniature, knowing that a working example had been built.