The future of Tampa Bay may involve an electric air-taxi service buzzing around the sky.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is building two vertiports at the SunTrax testing facility in Polk County.
At the Florida Automated Vehicle Summit earlier this month, former state Senator Jeff Brandes — now founder and president of the Florida Policy Project — introduced the concept of air-taxis by using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts.
On "Florida Matters Live & Local," host Matthew Peddie spoke with Brandes about this new technology that could potentially transform Tampa Bay — and the rest of Florida's — traffic game.
The interview below was edited for clarity and length.
What exactly is an air-taxi?
You can look at anything from a two-person air-taxi to maybe a five or six-person air-taxi that would shuttle you around 60 miles.
But hopefully, we can get up to about 100-150 miles through the airspace of Florida. It would be flying at roughly 2,000-3,000 feet and be able to get from Tampa Bay to Orlando in a fairly short time.
How safe are they?
Like any new technology, it's going to take some time for people to adopt and get comfortable with it. What people will realize is that there are multiple redundancies built into these systems. They're not flying super high. They can come down and land if they need to, or if there is any issue.
They aren't gliders. They're powered by electric engines, and some of them will be hybrids. They will potentially have a longer range than just battery electrics.
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The City of St. Petersburg has started a dialogue and a task force to look at eVTOL. They were the birthplace of commercial flight, so it's exciting to see them leading on this topic as well.
By 2035, people will be able to see some highways in the sky. There will be dedicated routes, and they will be flying on a regular schedule. Let's say, if people got a flight in Tampa and they want to get to the Orlando airport for a connecting flight. That would be kind of a hassle today, but with an eVTOL, that might make it very possible.
The State of Florida is building a couple of vertiports at its SunTrax testing facility. What does this mean?
The vertiports are considered like the heliports, but for eVTOLS. This is the next level in aviation, and it's giving aviation options to people as well. It is exciting to watch the development play out. It doesn't snow in Florida, so they can basically fly all year long.
The eVTOL lends itself to some of the larger and longer routes. Driving down to Naples or Orlando will be a two-hour adventure, but if it's shortened to 30-45 minutes, that makes it completely different. It would make it much easier to pop down there or pop up to Orlando. It is interesting and exciting at what we're seeing — watching the state lead in this conversation.
There are potential high-speed train projects that were passed up in Florida. Should there be more of a focus on ground transportation first?
We already have an Amtrak [that] runs from Tampa to Orlando today, but most people don't take it. Brightline is talking about coming over from Orlando to Tampa Bay, so I think there are rail projects in the works.
The challenges you run into for a rail project is you have to stop in Polk County. Polk County is not going to let you transit Polk County without slowing the train down and picking up passengers there. So what you end up with is not a high-speed rail. You end up with a median speed rail.
It'll actually take you longer — most of the time — to take the train than it would be to drive, because once you get to the Orlando airport, or whether you get to Disney, then you're going to have to get an Uber or Lyft or some other transportation to take you to your final destination, right? That could add on another 20-30 minutes.
Second, we don't have to buy any right-of-way. We're using airspace. If I'm going to build our commuter rail system in Florida, I'm going to spend millions — if not billions — of dollars just buying the right of way before I build the actual trains themselves.
What eVTOL gives is just another option. It's another arrow in the quiver. Yeah, I don't see it being mass transit, but I see it being a transit option for people who need to get to Orlando and don't want to wait two hours in traffic.
What could the cost of eVTOL transportation be?
I think the goal is, what's the market? They're not going to fly if there's not a market for these aircrafts, right?
So if they can get the cost down to $100 or $150, you can get there, and what's your time worth?
If you have a business meeting in Naples, it's going to take four hours of your life to drive there and back or more. Then, if you can do that on a day trip and it can cost you $200-300 to jump in an eVTOL with other passengers and fly down there — that might make sense.
Do I think it's going to be the price of an Uber? Probably not.
I think the exciting thing is we're about to have — by 2030, 2035, we're going to have a lot of different options that we don't have today.
Who will pay for building these eVTOLs?
I think the state will participate in some areas, but a lot of the facilities are already here. There are airports and unused airspaces that can be converted. I think for the most part, private providers will be building eVTOL facilities.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local." You can listen to the full episode here.
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