Flying Taxi Skepticism

Matt Caywood, CEO and co-founder of TransitScreen, writes an opinion piece to critique the idea of flying Ubers, taking to the skies to save us all from congestion.

The idea of flying Ubers is "disconnected from reality," argues Caywood.  "The price estimate is nearly $6 per mile, making a 20-mile trip from the Upper East Side to JFK cost around $120, compared to the current $7.75 combo of the subway and AirTrain. Can someone make money providing helicopter service to the rich? Sure. Is it the mass market a public company like Uber needs? No."

The news of Uber Elevate, also called Uber Air, first hit the Planetizen newswire in May 2018. The technology that would fly these Ubers is called VTOL, signifying Vertical Takeoff and Landing. The company is already making plans to build its first skyport facility in Frisco, Texas. Caywood has a bone to pick with people who are making the case that flying Ubers might somehow be a sustainable mode of transportation.

However, left unsaid is how people would arrive at the skyport in order to take the taxis. The first skyport is slated to be built at Frisco Station outside Dallas, a greenfield mixed-use development with zero access to public transportation. That means the only people who could use it either already live there or have to drive — or, in what is likely the planned scenario, take an Uber. The environmental impact as compared to a subway carrying hundreds of people running all the way to the airport, then, is still greater.

Caywood also notes that inability of a flying taxi to accommodate may users at once: "Like hyperloop, in any realistic scenario, it only adds a tiny percentage of capacity to the network, but not enough to make a difference."