The so-called "straddling bus," an elevated public transit system that has generated renewed interest after a real honest-to-god mini model was unveiled at the 19th China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in May, starts production this week. The future is now!

According to the Global Times, China's world-famous Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) will consist of four cars in total, each being about 22 meters long, 7.8 meters wide and 4.8 meters high.

Jinchuang Corp, located in Changzhou, Jiangsu, has the honor of producing the first model. The chief engineer of the project, Song Youzhou, says that "some portion of the bus will be made of glass to make passengers feel less confined. Song added that the bus will be able to take up to 1,200 passengers and is completely operated by electric power.

The TEB has received some rather mixed reviews from the Chinese online community since its re-introduction in May. While some are patriotically ecstatic about the invention -- "We Chinese finally came up with something original for once" -- others remain pessimistic about the project, saying that they would rather not "drive under a moving tunnel, unable to see the street lights."
Workers had better hurry up, because the TEB is scheduled for a (lame) test run in August. We can't wait!