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World's Longest Bus Can Carry 256 Passengers
Public transport has always been about keeping the cost of operation as low as practically possible. The more people a vehicle can carry the higher the profit. Buses do a good job in this case, especially in populated cities of India. For the same reason people have always attempted to make busses larger and longer, with more carrying capacities.
Buses with double decks and ultra long buses or "bendy buses" as they are called, are found in some cities, but due to their large sizes popularity has always been limited. Now, a new breed of "bendy buses" are making their debut that promise to be as agile as a regular bus can be.
AutoTram Extra Grand, developed by researchers from Fraunhofer Institute for Traffic and Infrastructure Systems, has the distinction of being the longest bus in the world.
The bus, which is three carriages long, has an overall length of 30.730 meters or 101 ft and can carry as many as 256 passengers (96 seated + 160 standing). A regular buses have an average length of 12 meters.
More significant than the length, however, is the AutoTram Extra Grand's ability to maneuver. "Bendy buses" in cities like London have been blamed for causing traffic problems and have even been termed unsafe.
According to its developers, the AutoTram is as easy to control as a regular bus, thanks to its electronic brain, which keeps the rear carriages in-line with the front carriage at all times.
AutoTram Extra Grand has already seen trial runs in Dresden, Germany.
Each AutoTram Extra Grand costs $1.25 million (~ £778,000 or INR 6.8 crores). Total development cost, on the other hand, has reached $10 million.
A 35 kWh lithium ion battery pack is the primary source of power and when it runs dry a diesel engine take over, simultaneously charging up the batteries.
All said, AutoTram Extra Grand is not the largest bus in the world. That title is held by China's Youngman JNP6250G2, which at 82 ft long, can carry 300 passengers.
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