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)
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Straight from the horse's mouth:
The first Chinese Forest City by Stefano Boeri Architetti is turning into reality. A city where offices, houses, hotels, hospitals and schools are entirely covered by plants and trees.
Once completed, the new city will host 30,000 people, absorb almost 10,000 tons of CO2 and 57 tons of pollutants per year and produce approximately 900 tons of oxygen.
Liuzhou Forest City will be built in the north of Liuzhou, in the mountain area of Guangxi, in the southern part of China; in an area that covers 175 hectares along the Liujiang river.
...
Liuzhou Forest City will have all the characteristics of an energy self-sufficient urban establishment: geothermal energy for interior air-conditioning and solar panels over the roofs for collecting renewable energy.The great innovation of Stefano Boeri Architetti’s project is the presence of plants and trees over every building, of all sizes and functions.
Liuzhou Forest City will host in total 40,000 trees and almost 1 million plants of over 100 species.
Unlike the characters from a previous story, Stefano Boeri is an architect known to deliver (green urbanism): one of his recent projects (completed) is Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) - a pair of residential towers in the Porta Nuova district of Milan, Italy, between Via Gaetano de Castillia and Via Federico Confalonieri near Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station - inaugurated in October 2014.
Under construction, another "Vertical Forest" pair of towers, in Nanjing, with the inauguration date expected in 2018.
(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.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by lx on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:29PM (1 child)
There is a place for funding impossible pie-in-the-sky and/or scam projects and that place is Indiegogo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @09:10PM
No, it's Kickstarter. Let the...ummm... debate begin
(grin)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @01:34PM (1 child)
Those who are scammed lose their money and reputation.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday July 05 2017, @06:26PM
Only applies if you scam poor people.