Looking at such an unusual form of public transport, one wonders whether it is a bus or a ship. But, in fact, it can safely be called both, because this amphibian, called HAFENCITY RIVERBUS, can easily cope with the functions of both a city bus and a ship.
It appeared in April 2016 in Hamburg, Germany, the largest port city in Europe, through which the beautiful Elbe River flows. Such transport is the best fit for this city, many of whose attractions are located near the river.
Taking passengers and tourists on board, on land the amphibian travels as an ordinary city bus, according to time and schedule.
And according to the licensing requirements of the municipality, it is equipped with a retractable ladder, stop request buttons and all the other features inherent in ordinary public transport.
According to the creator and owner of the amphibian, it took him as long as four years to obtain state permits. It turned out that the German code of regulations and laws lacked such a concept as public transport in the form of an amphibian, so the bus had to be given the most traditional form, equipment, and of course, safety features.
On land, the bus travels at the speed allowed in Hamburg city traffic, on water it is able to speed up to 5.9 knots. And despite the fact that it looks like a bus and has a Manov truck chassis, it is in fact equipped with a waterproof ship hull, which was specially created for it by a shipbuilding firm in Bulgaria. By the way, it is registered as a ship too – it flies the flag of Bulgaria, not as a bus, but as a passenger ship, i.e. as a ship.
“The biggest challenge for me was to find technical personnel to maintain it. After all, such an amphibious vehicle is both a vehicle and a boat. And all the ship mechanics were not friendly with the machines. I had to send my staff to MAN for advanced training. Now they are very handy, and can fix a bus within hours if necessary,” explains Fred Franken, the author of the floating transport.
In just the first two months of operation, the Hamburg amphibian was able to transport about 6,000 passengers, and now the record is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Its successes and shortcomings are closely watched by officials and specialists of other German cities. If successful, such “water buses” will appear in at least five more places in Germany.
An interesting way of traveling in the Netherlands has appeared relatively recently. Amphibious buses are very popular among tourists. The tour begins in Amsterdam by road and then continues by water. The trip on the water lasts about an hour and a half. The Amphibus is produced by a company that can build you an amphibious vehicle if you suddenly want to have a real off-road vehicle that can not only drive on land.