Tampa Bay area leaders want to be the first to have a hyperloop system that could connect Tampa and St. Petersburg via a high-speed bullet train system.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has always looked at the state as a whole for linking major cities, but those cities are outside of Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority's jurisdiction and could possibly be under the state's control.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman want to see Tampa Bay take on the project first before tossing it over to the state, potentially leaving Tampa Bay and other cities without what could be the most transformative transit project yet.
The mayors' discussion followed HyperloopTT's virtual presentation to the TBARTA board on Friday morning when it pitched using its magnetic levitation system to transport people from Tampa to St. Pete, St. Pete to Bradenton and Bradenton to Miami. HyperloopTT COO Andrea La Mendola said the travel capsules in elevated tubes can reach a maximum speed of 760 miles per hour and carry roughly 30 to 50 passengers at a time.
“As a group, if we push this off to the state, it’s not going to happen and it is something I would really like to see — a connection between Tampa and St. Petersburg," Castor said. "I think that’s what we are looking for, and if not Hyperloop, some type of innovative mass transit that would connect Tampa to St. Petersburg.”
Kriseman echoed her concerns.
“If we can start it off here, it would be a pilot for the rest of the state, show that it’s viable in this region, then it’s easy to expand it to the rest of the state," Kriseman said.
TBARTA Chairman Jim Holton said because of the system's scope of entering various cities, it would fall into the state's hands.
However, Karen Seel suggested that by creating a steering committee in TBARTA, the group can then work with the state but still remain as the local leadership to keep its arms around the project. Although a vote was not taken as it was only a presentation, Holton agreed that TBARTA will defer the matter to its policy committee.
Florida Department of Transportation District Seven Secretary David Gwynn said there is still more to study about the project, especially local routes.
HyperloopTT's presentation did not cover the exact funding structure and costs, but the company did say it is testing its technology in France, Dubai and in Germany and said it could use alternative sources of power to fuel its system.
The California-based company is also doing a feasibility study in the Great Lakes region, where it would have a system connecting Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Hyperloop is not the only technology being studied by TBARTA. The agency, which was awarded $1 million to study emerging transit tech, and consultant WSP have heard and reviewed presentations on gondola systems and air taxi companies such as German air taxi company Lilium Aviation.
TBARTA is also scheduled to have a future meeting with California-based air taxi company Wisk Aero Air Taxi, which is a joint venture established between Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation.
