Japanese train bus hybrid デュアルモードビークル starts in Hokkaido
Japan’s first dual-mode vehicle デュアルモードビークル (DMV) that can travel on both railway tracks and regular roads started transporting passengers for the first time last week in Hokkaido.
The DMVs are designed to run on the roads in less densely populated areas (where there are no train lines) but can to easily switch to run on train lines during rush-hour traffic in high-density areas. JR Hokkaido began developing the vehicle in 2000 as a way to cut the operating costs of rural local lines that had a daily ridership of fewer than 500 people (about 30 per cent) of its total lines.
For those who want to try the new DMV, the 28 seat vehicle starts out as a train at Hama-Koshimizu Station on the Senmo Line and then changes to a bus at Mokoto station and uses conventional bus tires to travel along Route 244.
Test run in Fuji, Shizuoka prefecture
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(Japan Sugoi)