Comment by tqi

15 hours ago

> solve tons of problems

I'm skeptical that air taxis could ever meaningfully reduce traffic congestion to / from JFK. Compared to cars, these would seem to require a significantly larger landing pad and passenger unloading space and need much more safety margin in-between drop offs. Maybe this is competitive vs the private helicopter market?

14 comments

tqi

Reply
Archonical  14 hours ago

I wonder what % of traffic is to/from JFK. The subway decently connects much of the city to the JFK air train, but it's a fairly inconvenient journey. Toronto's UP express has made travel to YYZ significantly easier, but I doubt it's possible to construct something similar in NYC.

I love aviation, but I also don't see air travel as being a scalable/affordable solution to this problem. Then again, it's only meant to alleviate traffic burden for a certain segment of the population.

  • maxdo  14 hours ago

    the problem with train it stops ... on every train stop. New york specifically, there are several networks(new jersey, mta, there are lines that are 100+ years old.

    In general if you have an affordable enough option you'd never walk into subway, with your several luggages, to travel longer. Train is a decent plan b.

    • JumpCrisscross  14 hours ago

      > if you have an affordable enough option you'd never walk into subway, with your several luggages, to travel longer

      I'm moderately wealthy and lived in New York for a decade. I take the train between JFK and Manhattan. (Specifically, the LIRR.) It's faster, more reliable and–for me–more comfortable than taking a car. (It's also safer.) If I have my cat with me or I feel like having fun, I'll take a Blade, but that's realistically only shaving like 20 minutes off the travel time.

      2 replies →

  • maxdo  14 hours ago

    if your air taxi is pilotless and electric, why it can't be scalable.

    • Archonical  14 hours ago

      How many people do you think enter/exit JFK arrivals and departures every hour? Where are you going to land all those air vehicles? Is this a shuttle service with many seats? How do you plan for the air traffic for that many people?

      3 replies →

    • tqi  14 hours ago

      JFK airtrain carries about 30K passengers per weekday in 2025. how many landing pads would be needed to carry a meaningful % of that traffic alone?

maxdo  15 hours ago

travel time is 5-10 mins with 40 mins to 2hours.

Yes, it is better compared to helicopter. cheaper, less noise. e.g. you can place it more applications, for less money.

  • tqi  14 hours ago

    Well it's 5-10 minutes once you get to the west 30th st heliport, which can easily take 20 minutes within Manhattan. Plus getting loaded in, cleared for takeoff, and potential for backups at the landing pads, I suspect the gains are much less in practice.