The scandalous end of the TEB project, the gigantic Chinese bus designed to rise above the jams

Was it a witty proposition or a scam?

The Beijing police arrested 32 people for illegal collection of funds for the Elevated transit bus (TEB) project, a proposal to evade traffic jams in the runways.

The futuristic idea of a vehicle that raises travelers over congestion attracted international attention quickly when it was presented in May 2016 at the Beijing International Hi-Tech exhibition, where visitors were able to observe a tiny teb in operation.

But a few months later, speculation grew that it was just a scam to raise funds and the project was dismissed in June.

TEB, the gigantic Chinese bus that will rise above the jams

In a statement, the police said they were working to recover investors ' assets.

One of the arrested is Bai Zhiming, the 47-year executive director of the company TEB Technologies, who is also the founder of the Huaying Kailai Asset Management finance company.

The other 31 detainees were workers of huaying Kailai.

Investors had been offered 12% gains if they put money into the project, but Chinese media said it was a way to lure them to buy financial products.

Doubts about the project of the gigantic Chinese bus that rises above the jams

In China there have been a series of scams in which Web pages promise big gains for the money invested in new companies, an area ignored by the state banks of the country.

Doubts

Doubts about the bus-an electric vehicle 22 meters long, almost 5 meters high and 8 meters wide-began to emerge when the tests scheduled for after the first was suspended, in August 2016.

Many questioned that the vehicle could advance in the curves or pass under bridges. Critics wondered how it would bend in the corners or whether it was strong enough to withstand its own weight and that of the passengers.

Others noted that the model used in the test was the same as they had presented six years ago, when the idea arose for the first time in 2010, suggesting that no technical progress had been made.

There was also confusion over whether the bus had been approved by the authorities, but the Financial Times reported that the Government of Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province, in northeastern China, where Teb was to operate, had said it would invest US $1.5 billion in the project.

Doubts about the project of the gigantic Chinese bus that rises above the jams

In June, Chinese media reported that the TEB test station in Qinhuangdao had been demolished.