Regina Barber
speaker
5,686 appearances
196 recordings
8 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 2d ago
Regina Barber’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 128 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 33.
Appearances
And how soon you could be riding in one.
You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
Okay, Gina, so there were air taxis in New York in the 1950s and 60s.
And 70s, yep.
Wild.
But they were basically helicopters.
Helicopters, of course, are still used for some personal travel today, especially among the wealthy.
Right.
But even back then, the thinking was that air taxis would just be like another form of commercial air travel.
In 1951, the Civil Aeronautics Board, a government agency, proposed a new class of air carrier.
Wow.
Air taxis that linked airline points with communities lacking airline service.
I mean, the customers in the 1960s and 70s for these air taxis were mostly rich people and businessmen.
And during that time, business was good.
Like customers took helicopters, usually short trips to the airport.
And it costs about the same that an Uber ride to the airport costs now.
So what happened to all these air taxi companies?
They don't exist anymore.
And this is because of a complex blend of financial and regulatory reasons, including a recession in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Plus, in the 1960s, L.A.
Showing 2201–2220 of 5,686 · page 111 of 285
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