Commuting is hardly anyone’s favorite activity. In fact, it’s a huge time sink and a massive drain on productivity and natural resources.

Here are a few numbers to put the problem in perspective: By the end of 2006, the United States will have collectively spent more than 3.7 billion hours dealing with gridlock, and more than 2.3 billion gallons of gasoline—roughly $7 billion worth—will have been transformed into smog while cars are idling.

And as populations rise around the globe, cars will multiply, transport infrastructure will fail to keep pace, and the traffic nightmare will only get worse. But two companies believe they have the answer to the gridlock dilemma; they want you to get off the freeways and into the waterways and skyways.

The Amphibian

Pop quiz: Besides gridlock and high population densities, what do San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Paris, London, and Beijing have in common? The answer, and one that is dear to Alan Gibbs, CEO of Gibbs Technologies, is navigable waterways.

Mr. Gibbs and his team of engineers have designed a vehicle that fictional super-spy James Bond would relish: an amphibious vehicle dubbed the Aquada. Going from land to water and back again, it tops out at 110 miles per hour mph on the highway and does 35 mph on the water. The Aquada sports retractable wheels that can sustain highway speeds, a hull suitable for navigating on the water, and a jet powerful enough to propel the craft on waterways at sporty speeds.

Imagine a San Francisco commuter eager to avoid the slow-and-go on the BayBridge. By making his way to a handy boat ramp, say the one near Pier 54, the driver could splash into the bay, and 10 minutes later, pull up near the Berkeley Yacht Club. Similarly, in New York, the Holland Tunnel could be avoided entirely.

“I think the best place of all would be Long Island and the coast of Connecticut,” Mr. Gibbs enthuses. “You have all those sheltered bays and waterways, and the Connecticut coast. On a lovely day, you could whiz down the coast, and drive into Manhattan.”

The sticker price on the Aquada is expected to be slightly under $100,000 when it goes into production in 2008. It had been due out sooner, but the firm’s intended manufacturer in the United Kingdom—MG Rover—inconveniently went bankrupt. Now, though his firm is based in Warwickshire, England, Mr. Gibbs says he is lining up manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

When Mr. Gibbs founded his company in 1996, the New Zealand entrepreneur located it in the U.K., in part to pick up skilled engineers formerly employed by Lotus. Now that the product is developed, Mr. Gibbs says the U.S. is the best market. “I decided it’s clearly an American product. That’s where the water, the money, and the attitude of mind can be found,” says Mr. Gibbs.

It’s not just haggard commuters that might want an aqua-car of their own. The U.S. military—particularly the Navy—is also interested in the Aquada, as well as two other products Gibbs is developing, says Mr. Gibbs. One is called the Humdinga, an amphibious interpretation of the Humvee. Another, dubbed the Quadski, is a hybrid between a Jetski and a quad-bike—suitable for recreation, as well as water-rescue and law enforcement applications.

Thus far, the Aquada project has been supported by Mr. Gibbs’ own money and a few wealthy individuals. Besides manufacturing and selling amphibious vehicles, the business model also includes licensing the technology to other firms or governments. Already, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Gibbs a test contract, for an undisclosed sum, to evaluate the company’s wares.

“The point of our technology is that we can make any vehicle amphibious,” claims Mr. Gibbs. “We can do it for an all-terrain vehicle, we can do it for a 40-foot bus. It’s technology than can be utilized on the full range of wheeled transport.”

Getting There

For business travelers, including guys like Jeff Max, CEO of e-commerce firm Venda, the sky is his commuter lane. His cowboy boots announce that he lives in Durango, Colorado, but his accent betrays his New York roots, where his company is based. Commuting across the U.S. 15 to 20 times a month, the former pilot likes to get where he’s going without delay. But in the post-9/11 skyways, Mr. Max is subjected to many delays. And so he waits-—wasting half a day to get from San Francisco to Colorado, or a full day to travel from Denver to New York.

“In my last company we owned a quarter of a jet, but that [fractional ownership] is the most expensive way to go,” says Mr. Max. He could renew his pilot’s license, but owning a turboprop plane wouldn’t help his cause. They’re too slow.

That’s why the age of very small jet- gets Mr. Max excited. Eclipse Aviation, the first very-light jet (VLJ) maker, recently announced that it had received provisional approval for its design from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The company is already starting production on its Eclipse 500 mini jets while it waits for full approval from the FAA, expected in late August. Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse, says his company has $3.8 billion in backlogged orders and a two-year-long waitlist.

If Eclipse’s pre-orders are any indication, air-taxi services will snap up the bulk of what’s produced. Currently, two-thirds of Eclipse’s backlogged orders are from air-taxi operators, though some 900 individuals are also in line. By offering a more convenient way to fly, air-taxi companies hope to attract the business commuter.

While the cost of VLJ service to the business traveler will likely be more than a first-class seat on a traditional jet, the option of landing closer to a destination, not waiting in long lines, and having a rental car meet the busy executive at the landing strip may make all the difference.

The Eclipse 500, which will sport a $1.5-million price tag, has a maximum cruise speed of 370 knots (426 mph), can carry up to six occupants, and has a top range of 1,125 nautical miles, or about halfway between San Francisco and New York. It can climb to a 41,000-foot ceiling to avoid severe weather, and can land at more than 10,000 U.S. airports because of its short-runway takeoff and landing capabilities.

So far, Eclipse has a healthy lead in the mini-jet space. Its closest rival, Adam Aircraft, recently got $92 million in a fifth round of funding from a group of venture capitalists and private equity firms (see “Out of the Box,” Vol. 3, No. 33, p. 16). By contrast, Eclipse has raised approximately $600 million, mostly from private individuals. Other rivals, such as Cessna, whose Citation Mustang VLJ is expected to be announced later this year, won’t have a product in the skies for at least two years. Honda, which will begin taking orders for its HondaJet VLJ this fall, hopes to deliver the first HondaJet in 2010, but Eclipse plans to turn out 900 Eclipse jets by the end of 2007.

“With other startups—while I have to respect their entrepreneurial zeal and ability—the one thing I would say is that we have a deeply capital-intensive business,” says Mr. Raburn. “I mean, the economics of this would make [online grocer] Webvan choke.”

If Mr. Raburn talks a little like a software executive, it’s because he was one. He was employee No. 18 at Microsoft, and chairman of security software giant Symantec before he turned his eyes to the skies. Being tight with Bill Gates hasn’t hurt him either: Mr. Gates and biotech entrepreneur Al Mann are two of the company’s biggest investors.

But demand may never reach the heights Mr. Raburn envisions. Analyst firm Forecast International is projecting deliveries of just 4,355 VLJs during the 2006-2015 timeframe. But what would an entrepreneur be without a blue-sky view of the world?

Contact the writer: SWolfe@RedHerring.com

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