Superbus Fuss

The Superbus at Masdar last week.

Pardon me if I sound impertinent, but does this Superbus concept seem a little far-fetched to anyone else?

I’ll admit that I’m not the most receptive to new ideas, but I really would relish the idea of a 200+ km/h bus that could whisk me off to Abu Dhabi in 30 guilt-free, zero carbon minutes for those pressing engagements. I agree too, that there would probably be a market for it once it and the infrastructure required was built. But that’s about where the idea ends for me, because it seems the whole concept has gone a little too far.

I hate to prick the bubble of excitement that has surrounded the project to date, but the fact that the Superbus not only relies on technology that doesn’t yet exist, but also requires a major financial undertaking by local and central governments to establish special roads and other infrastructure, is reason enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT I couldn't agree more. The UAE seems to attract these stupid ideas, probably because it's the only place left in the wor   1 Comments Read more comments »

Central to the Superbus concept, according to the project's website, is the “Carefree and comfortable travel, customised according to your needs. You can get in the vehicle wherever and whenever you need. It will take you to your destination without any changeovers. During the journey, you can get on with your work, or sit back and enjoy the speed and the luxury. This service will be yours for a fare which is comparable to the prices of present day’s public transport.”

That sounds lovely. But how is that different to a chauffeur-driven limo - or, for that matter, a normal taxi (apart from the luxury bit)? Wouldn’t a fleet of upmarket hydrid-drive saloons offer a more personalised service, be far cheaper to implement - to at least guage the market for such a system?

Let’s start with a few numbers. The prototype has cost around $19m to build and, while the cost of the final production models is likely to be far less than this, the fact that 700 of them would be required to mesh the Superbus in to a fully integrated public transport system, is enough to cock those eyebrows upwards again. Yes: you read right. That’s 700. Even at a conservative figure of $1m each, that’s nearly $1billion in rolling stock alone once you factor in spares and other parts.

Did I mention it would need its own road? Yes: the Superbus would require a specially built Supertrack that would mean it could speed between two cities at a record pace without running the gauntlet of speed cameras, suicidal tailgaters and 4x4s that pester the highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The super-smoothe Supertrack doesn't come cheap – a cost that would presumably be recouped through ticket fares.

At 15m long and 9.5-tons fully loaded, how is this Goliath meant to negotiate Abu Dhabi’s congested streets? How will it carve through Bur Dubai or Deira as it responds to requests from customers to pick them up? Even with rear-wheel steering, the vehicle is not going to be the most nimble of machines around the UAE's busy streets.

Even if it was, do you imagine that, with 22 other passengers to pick up and drop off, that the Superbus will be any faster than a standard cab or car on the run between the two cities? I'd take that bet any day. It may be able to complete the motorway distance quickly, but the fannying about while picking passengers up and negotiating standing traffic in congested city streets is going to eat up any advantages gained on the motorway.

As it stands, the Superbus is a novelty. It doesn’t yet have the grunt to be able to hit its claimed top speed, and the lithium polymer batteries required to power the electric motors to 210km/h have not been invented yet. Superbus makers are confident they will be by the time the vehicle goes in to production, but they’ll also need to look at how the interior will be air-conditioned (it’s not, at present: there’s not much need for it in Holland).

It’s also not designed to go up hills – as it demonstrated last week when it blew a fuse when faced with an incline in Abu Dhabi. Holland is flat (and so to, for that matter, is the run between Dubai and Abu Dhabi), so there’s not much need for it to scale mountains. Let’s hope Fujeirah isn’t crossing its fingers for one.

So, in its current state, what are we faced with? A futuristic-looking composite stretched limo chassis that is the length of a standard bus but is not air-conditioned, can’t go up hills, can’t reach the speed its designers claim it will yet, relies on a bank of batteries that don't yet exist, needs its own high-speed, dedicated road, and may not be able to operate in key areas of the cities its destined for.

I'm sure its inventors are ahead of me in dealing with these criticisms - but they're fairly big holes in a project that has so far swallowed millions. The fact that it was charged using Masdar's solar array is of little consequence, particularly given the fact it needs the best part of a day to do so.

Novelty value aside, the Superbus has limited appeal. It may run on renewable energy, but at what cost? And, wouldn’t that money be better poured in to a sustainable train system and support infrastructure that would be infinitely more usable for a greater range of people than a carbon-fibre folly.

Let’s face it. Anyone with such a pressing need to speed between the UAE’s two largest cities either has access to a driver who can get them there, or an aircraft that will beat any form of road transport. The rest of us would make better use of a train service.