The Superbus concept is being developed by TU Delft in the Netherlands. It consists of a high speed road driven vehicle for use in public transport, dedicated high speed infrastructure and advanced logistic support systems for its demand driven operation. The basic idea was to develop a road driven high speed vehicle, using aerospace and other advanced high-tech in order to reduce the environmental impact of high speed public transport. The design maximum speed of the Superbus is 250 km/h while the power required at that speed will be comparable with that of existing buses driving 100 km/h. This can be done by addressing the two main sources of drag: aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance. Aerodynamic drag is determined by both the shape and the size, mainly frontal area. By streamlining the vehicle and reducing its height the aerodynamic drag can be reduced significantly. The rolling resistance is mainly determined by the weight of the vehicle. By using fiber reinforced composites and aerospace construction methods the weight of the vehicle and thus the rolling resistance can be reduced. In this evaluation procedure the Superbus was compared with other modes of high speed public transport. In the development an aerospace safety approach is used. The national road safety authority is involved in the project from the start. The choice for a road driven vehicle is made because of freedom it gives in choosing its path. While rail bound public transport is limited to its rail infrastructure a road driven vehicle is not. The Superbus will be able to make use of existing infrastructure where possible and make use of dedicated high speed infrastructure when needed. This dedicated high speed infrastructure will be purpose built. It can therefore be designed for the loads of the Superbus. One does not have to take into account the same design load criteria as used in design of standard roads because of usage by heavily loaded trucks. The Superbus therefore requires a relatively light road structure. This will reduce both costs and environmental impact.The environmental impact of a public transport system is mainly being determined by the construction of dedicated infrastructure and the operation of vehicles over a certain period. It has been shown that for public transport systems the environmental impact over its life cycle is determined for a considerable part by the construction of the dedicated infrastructure. TU Delft was given the opportunity to have the Superbus concept assessed by the Dutch government in the framework of the Zuiderzeelijn-connection. The government studied five different modes of public transport which could be used on this connection. In this assessment the concept was assessed on aspects like societal costs and benefits and environmental impact. Next to that the possibilities to develop a profitable operation were assessed. For this the government invited a consortium of companies to develop a business case for the Superbus. The result of the assessment was that the government decided not to further develop the Zuiderzeelijn-connection itself. However, since the assessment results showed the Superbus concept to be the most profitable of the transport modes investigated the government decided to start a research and development program. In the framework of that program TU Delft is now developing a full scale demonstration vehicle of the Superbus and in parallel researching the possible applications, both in the Netherlands and abroad. For the covering abstract see ITRD E137145.
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