University student and three others come out tops in international design contest with their ‘pandemic-proof’ bus idea.
A 23-YEAR-OLD Singaporean student is part of a four-member team that has won an international design competition with a “pandemic-proof” bus.
Ryan Teo, together with three other foreign students he had just met over Zoom, created what they called the Futurebus in 24 hours.
Features include a sliding door spanning the full length of the bus, remote payment technology that does away with physical card readers, and a rotating handrail that is sterilised by a UV strip.
Teo said the design could make public transport safer without lowering the capacity of the bus, the inevitable result of social distancing measures around the world amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s always been clear to me that Singapore has one of the best public transport systems in the world.
“That said, no system in the world is suited for a pandemic situation,” said the final-year student at Northwestern University in the United States.
The FourC Challenge in June, organised by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, saw more than 200 students from 52 universities compete in a 24-hour “design sprint”.
Teams were set up randomly by organisers and collaboration took place remotely.
Teo’s team won the 50,000 yuan (RM30,414) grand prize and its winning entry has since attracted unexpected media attention from various countries including the United States, China and Spain.
The other three members of the team were Yang Shunli from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, William Ma from Harvard University and Li Xin from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.