China police probe funding of ‘trafficstraddling’ bus

BEIJING: Chines authorities have launched an investigation into the fundraising practises of a firm behind a much- hyped futuristic bus that was supposed to glide over traffic jams but never got off the ground.

Footage of a prototype of the traffic- straddling vehicle driving down a short track in northern Hebei province while two cars drove underneath attracted global attention in August last year.

But many doubted the project’s feasibility and Chinese media questioned its sources of financing.

Beijing police on Sunday said the project’s investor, the online lending firm Huaying Kailai, was being investigated in connection with illegal fundraising.

The police statement said 32 people, including a person surnamed Bai, have been detained.

Documents with the Beijing government show that Huaying’s founder, surnamed Bai, owns 90 per cent of the company manufacturing the straddling bus, TEB Tech.

The police said it was seeking to “recover the funds involved in this case and protect investors’ legal rights and interests”.

But police did not provide further details about the allegations.

The electric vehicle, first proposed in 2010, needed at least two lanes to operate and an additional lane to allow traffic to pass, according to TEB.

The bus was designed to carry up to 1,400 passengers at a top speed of 60 kilometres per hour, TEB has said – although videos only showed it moving slowly.

Chinese media say the project is being shelved. — AFP MELBOURNE: Guerrilla artists in Melbourne are splashing colour over concrete blocks set up around the city’s central business district last month to stop militant attacks with vehicles.

“It’s good to see Melbourne style hitting the bollards,” said 26-year old office worker Jamie Young.

About 200 concrete bollards have been put up in 11 pedestrian areas of the city, following two incidents in the city this year in which cars mounted pavements.

“Six people were killed and scores injured in one of the incidents.

“For me, it’s about reframing the idea of the bollards,” said George Forgan- Smith, who works as a general practitioner specialising in men’s health, and who covered several of the blocks in a harlequin-patterned material.

“They are grey, they are hard,

It’s good to see Melbourne style hitting the bollards.

they are cold. By at least putting these covers on the bollards, we are saying that we understand that some horrible things have happened, but from the darkest of times, the most beautiful art can come,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Concrete blocks have also been put up in Sydney after a spate of vehicle attacks in cities around the world.

Australia has been on a ‘ high’ national threat level since 2015, citing the likelihood of attacks by Australians radicalised in Iraq and Syria.

A spokeswoman for Melbourne City Council said the concrete blocks were a temporary solution and the council was considering longer-term options such as seating and planter beds.

In the meantime, more bollard art is coming.

“I’m not stopping,” ForganSmith said.

“I’m crocheting as we speak ... So look out Melbourne, there is more crochet yarn-bombing on its way.”— Reuters

Jamie Young, office worker