Insane to think we need f**cking AIR TAXI`s for our commutes. https://ktla.com/2019/12/13/float-w...nts-avoid-rush-hour-traffic-for-1250-a-month/ I hate California.
Huh. For some reason I thought airplanes burned more fuel than cars, but those guys are talking about their flying taxi service being better for the environment.
Per hour I would imagine planes do burn more, but since they are so much faster the amount per travel leg is less.
I suppose a moving airplane uses far less fuel than several cars stalled in traffic. Passenger miles per gallon.
The planes are also carrying multiple passengers. This makes sense for some location pairs. The problem will still be first/last mile transit. The article is disengunous since it doesnt really factor in total trip time including waiting and first/last mile. Going 5 miles in LA can easily take 1 hour. If your airport is on a congested route to or from work or home it might be faster just to drive. Pretty cool, but definitely not a solution with mass penetration potential. We'll have to wait for flying drones after the Chinese work out the kinks by sacrificing a couple commies to poor QC practices.
If they are using Cessna caravans they burn 50-60 gph in cruise. And that is at altitude. For a 15 min flight they will be low and burning more. I would expect a 15 min flight to burn 20-30 gallons with start up, taxi, climb and cruise. If you live and work near a small airport and value your time this could be a deal. Plus aside from marine layer fog in the spring they usually have good flying weather. I don’t think they’ll last more than a year or 2 but I wish them well.
This will trigger so many CA loonies the entertainment value alone makes it worth it. I can hear it now, "what about the poors!?" "this needs to be .gov subsidized for everyone!". It will become the new train.
Given the area and avg pay scale for people who this is targeted for I actually think $1250 a month is a bit on the light end of cost. I’d expect at least $2500 closer to 3-4K a month.
Sounds as if it's a start up price, no way the price per trip stays that low for long. OK, so you don't work at or VERY close to the airport, then what, UBER/Lyft? Have a car/bike there? It's a Cali thing for sure!
When I lived in CA (~13yrs ago) I vaguely knew a guy who commuted daily into LA from San Bernardino area via small plane. Much easier commute. He kept beater car at destination airport. Now Uber would be even easier.
