Advancements in electric propulsion and autonomy technologies are leading to the development of a new class of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. These aircraft may complement existing transportation systems by providing on-demand or scheduled air taxi service within urban areas. Through their ability to fly over congested ground transportation, air taxis may offer door-to-door travel-time savings for commute trips compared to traditional modes.
In this project, we used data from a major U.S. phone company to generate an estimate of the total number of commuters traveling between zip code pairs in a city. We estimated the number of these commuters that would take air taxis using a mode choice model calibrated from a survey that included traditional auto, autonomous ground vehicles (AVs), and air taxis as future modes. The links below show routes on which air taxi would be competitive with traditional auto and AVs for 40 cities in the U.S. These cities represent the most populous CSAs in the U.S.
Click on the link below to check out if air taxis are coming to your city! The red dots are vertiports, the blue lines in the figures connect the home and/or work destination to the nearest vertiport and the green lines correspond to the air taxi portion of the trip. The thicker the line, the greater the volume of potential commuters. Note that the pages may take a minute to load, so be patient!
Want to quote this work or learn more about this project? Click on this link below to access the full article.
Haan, J., Garrow, L.A., Marzuoli, A., Roy, S., and Bierlaire M. (2021). Are commuter air taxis coming to your city? A ranking of 40 cities in the United States. Transportation Research Part C 132: 103392
Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs, GA
Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT
Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Muskegon, MI
Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point, NC
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC
Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
Jacksonville-St. Marys-Palatka, FL-GA
Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS
Louisville/Jefferson County–Elizabethtown–Madison, KY-IN
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro, TN
New Orleans-Metairie-Hammond, LA-MS
Orlando-Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA