Are commuter air taxis coming to your city? A ranking of 40 cities in the United States

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2021.103392Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • We use cell phone data, census data, and a mode choice model calibrated from a stated 3 preference survey to identify potential air taxi commuter routes in 40 U.S. cities.

  • Air taxi commuter demand varies across the cities and is sensitive to the location of existing 5 vertiports, current commute patterns, existing ground infrastructure, and other factors.

  • More than 30 percent of potential air taxi demand is concentrated in the metro areas of 7 New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

  • A set of interactive maps allows readers to visualize the location of potential air taxi 9 commuter routes for the 40 cities.

Abstract

Given the high levels of congestion that many commuters in the United States experience, the urban air mobility community has been exploring the potential of using a new class of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commuters. To date, only a few studies have been conducted that compare how potential air taxi demand across cities varies. This study calculates a measure of air taxi demand for commuters for the 40 most populous combined statistical areas (CSAs) in the U.S. by using: (1) cell phone data to identify regular commuters in cities, (2) census data to associate household income characteristics with commuters, and (3) a mode choice model calibrated from a stated preference survey to predict the number of commuters that would use an air taxi. Air taxi commuter demand is concentrated in a handful of CSAs; the CSAs for New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., generate 33 percent of the overall air taxi demand. Results are sensitive to location of existing vertiports, existing ground infrastructure and congestion levels on competing modes, and current commute patterns. A resultant set of online maps of potential air taxi routes allows readers to visualize how air taxi commuter routes differ across CSAs. Results will be of value both to aircraft manufacturers seeking to design air taxi vehicles to serve different cities as well as city planners for identifying where investments in port infrastructure may be needed to support a commuter air taxi service.

Keywords

Air taxi
Urban air mobility
Autonomous ground vehicles
Mode choice
Commute behaviour

Abbreviations

ACS
American Community Survey
ARC
Atlanta Regional Commission
AV
autonomous (ground) vehicle
CBD
central business district
CPI
consumer price index
CPM
cost per mile
CSA
combined statistical area
eVTOL
electric vertical takeoff and landing
FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
GDP
gross domestic product
IVTT
in-vehicle travel time
MNL
multinomial logit
MSA
metropolitan statistical area
NFDC
National Flight Data Center
OD
origin–destination
OMB
U.S. Office of Management and Budget
OVTT
out-of-vehicle travel time
SP
stated preference
STEM
science, technology, engineering, and math
UAM
urban air mobility
U.S
United States
VOT
value of time
ZCTA
zip code tabulation area
ZIP
zone improvement plan

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