It’s game day on campus and the freeways are snarled — bumper-to-bumper traffic. But what if, instead of being stuck in gridlock traffic, you could fly above the Los Angeles skyline right to the gates of campus? And what if instead of waiting for a shuttle after a late-night flight into Los Angeles International Airport, you could take a 20-minute ride to your final destination?

Archer Aviation Inc. announced Aug. 8 it was working to implement a network of air taxis across L.A. with service planned to begin as early as 2026. Accompanying planned stops at LAX, Orange County, Long Beach, Van Nuys, Santa Monica and SoFi Stadium is a proposed stop at USC’s University Park Campus.

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The air taxi service would utilize Archer’s electric vertical takeoff aircraft — Midnight. According to Archer’s press release, over the next two years the University will work to convert existing helipads into vertiports which are compatible with the vertical takeoff aircraft the company uses. The company announced plans for a San Francisco-based air taxi network in June. 

“USC’s ultimate goal is to offer visitors an easy, quick and sustainable way to get to and from its campus, sports facilities and hospitals in the future,” wrote the company in the press release. 

The UPC campus has a helipad atop of Mudd Building. Miles Rogers, global head of marketing for Archer, said in an interview with the Daily Trojan the tops of parking structures are also prime candidates for conversion to vertiports.

Rogers said the network, once finalized, will be an alternative to rideshare services as customers will be able to book — just like with Lyft or Uber — their start and end location in advance for an air taxi. The company plans to have 25 aircrafts produced by next year.

“USC is [the] perfect location for a vertiport,” Rogers said. “Aside from students coming in — students and faculty — you think about game day, and alumni, and recruiting trips to campus and bringing people to USC. The [I-10] Freeway can be challenging, especially on game days, and the ability to alleviate some traffic by using Midnight will be a game changer for the city.”

In order to develop its network, however, the company will need approval from many of the municipalities across L.A. included in its network. It also must still finalize a number of details with the University, including the number of vertiports at each of its locations.

“We’re still working through some of the timing and logistics in and around [construction at UPC], and we’ll hope to pull together a plan, sort of by the end of the year,” Rogers said.

Though Kerionya Carter, a senior majoring in communication, was intrigued by the possible convenience of a flying taxi network, she also expressed concerns regarding safety. Carter said she would want to have safety certification as robust as for aircraft travel to feel safe taking an air taxi. Kimberly Yuen, a senior majoring in finance and world bachelor in business, expressed similar reservations.

“As long as it’s tested out, I guess we’re all good with it,” Yuen said. “I guess flying taxi is just like a helicopter or [the same] idea of like a plane. So to us, maybe not that much of a concern, since we flew all the way here.”

Archer has received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate aircraft in a commercial context but has yet to receive certification for the Midnight aircraft that are planned to be used in the L.A. and San Francisco networks.

In order to consider using the service, several students said the cost would also have to be comparable to the cost of other transportation options to the airport like Uber. 

“[How much I’m willing to pay] kind of depends on what it comes with,” said Casey Bajec, a sophomore majoring in business administration. “Assuming it’s quicker than a car and assuming it’s comfortable and you can look down on the city, I would say I’d pay 100 bucks for a ride to LAX.”

The company intends to include students in the planning process as early as next year according to Rogers. This includes potentially bringing an aircraft to campus.

Currently, the UPC campus is served by 11 bus routes and has four metro stops in the vicinity. The University also runs shuttles between the UPC and Health Sciences Campus, to Union Station and between the UPC and LAX during major academic breaks.