Planes, high speed trains and autonomous automobiles are just the beginning for Florida transportation.
But a slow and steady effort has been building for over three years in the Tampa Bay area to bring a new kind of transit tech to the scene: hyperloop.
You may have heard of Hyperloop from Hyperloop 1, the Elon Musk-backed technology in the making that will transport people or goods in a vaccuum-less tube. When the air is removed from the tube, it creates a magnetized levitation where the magnets repel each other, allowing the tube to move even faster. For reference: passengers or cargo could get from Tampa to Orlando in around 10 minutes using the company’s hyperloop technology, which travels at 750 miles per hour.
There are four companies using hyperloop technology, including the aforementioned Hyerloop 1. However, Tampanians are focusing on bringing Culver City, Calif.- based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, or HTT, to the Bay area.
HTT stands out by using crowdfunding to support its projects. The company licenses the hyperloop tech, which is then made possible through third-party feasibility studies and operators who will carry out the project.
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Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority will give HTT its best shot at its latest feasibility study. TBARTA received a record $2.5 million from Gov. Ron DeSantis in June. $1 million of the funding will be solely allocated for feasibility studies.
“This appropriation will allow TBARTA to move the agency and our region forward, hire the appropriate staff needed to execute their mission as set forth by the Florida Legislature and to invest the resources into innovative transit projects," said Florida State Rep. Jackie Toledo, R-Tampa, said in a statement.
According to TBARTA, the organization will be looking at several technologies to test out including autonomous vehicles, zero-emissions transit, smart city technologies and yes, hyperloop technology.
But where the technology will be utilized and who will step up to the plate to build it is still unknown. There's a Brightline train, formerly known as Virgin Trains, that was given the go-ahead from Tampa to Orlando. At a 2018 meeting of transportation groups at the Plant City campus of Hillsborough Community College, HTT’s chief global operations officer Andrea La Mendola said the organization will not be looking to compete in that space.
"When hyperloop was presenting their idea, at the same time Brightline announced their plans," Beth Alden, executive director of Hillsborough County MPO, said. "They took all the air out of the room at that point, because if it's possible for the private sector to come in to build from Orlando to downtown Tampa, that would be wonderful and we wouldn’t want something to compete with that."
However, HTT executives also mentioned a possible shorter pilot project in Tampa Bay, specifically looking at connecting Tampa to nearby St. Petersburg.
While the 25 mile distance may seem unnecessary for a major transportation undertaking, Alden said it the light weight of a hyperloop project would be preferred over the heavier Brightline.
"We talked very generally about Tampa to St. Petersburg as a test or demonstration," she said. "It might be a good location to test that technology because something lighter weight would be good if you're building across Tampa Bay. There's been lot of talk about Brightline and if they extend to Tampa (from Orlando)...could it go farther than that? Yes, but it's a fairly heavy technology so it will be more expensive if you build it across St. Petersburg."
While bringing hyperloop to Tampa and St. Pete remains simply an idea, city and county officials are looking toward the work that is being done a little farther north. HTT is finishing up a feasibility study that would run from Cleveland to Chicago, costing $1.2 million. It's getting funded through the Illinois Department of Transportation and North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency.
"We looked at the potential of doing an agreement with hyperloop, but as I said, it's not a perfect fit for my organization," Alden said. "We’re probably going to be looking at less expensive tech inside the county, but TBARTA might look at something more rapid with limited stops."
And with the latest funding granted to TBARTA, now it's on Tampa Bay-focused lobbyists to move forward on a number of avenues, including requesting an RFP, soul source procurement, soul source agreement or an existing scope of services.
