{"id":222174,"date":"2026-04-07T16:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222174\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:40:10","slug":"sunshine-skyway-bridge-going-cashless-on-april-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222174\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine Skyway Bridge going cashless on April 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">SARASOTA, Fla. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\">WWSB<\/a>) &#8211; Drivers will no longer be able to pay cash at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge starting April 12. The Florida Department of Transportation is switching to cashless operations, requiring drivers to use a SunPass, other accepted transponders, or toll-by-plate billing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Sunshine Skyway Bridge generates more than $28 million annually in total toll revenue, according to FDOT. The revenue goes toward bridge infrastructure and structural protection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bridge users will have to invest in a SunPass, take a different route, or find the toll bill in their mailbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">FDOT released a statement saying \u201celectronic tolling is safer and more efficient&#8230;allowing drivers to keep a steady pace and eliminates the need to stop and pay for tolls.\u201d The department also said electronic tolls lower operating costs and SunPass customers will save an average of 25% compared to cash or toll-by-plate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Some local residents voiced concern that mailed bills will be a problem for people moving to different addresses. Others raised concerns over receiving scam bills in their text or email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">FDOT clarified that official toll invoices are sent only through U.S. mail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The SunPass Pro transponder costs $14.95 plus tax and the SunPass Mini transponder costs $4.99 plus tax. Both units allow customers to have tolls electronically deducted from a prepaid account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">More information is available at sunpass.com.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Drivers will no longer be able to pay cash at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[100641,2345,202,204,203,199,201,200,52459,35545,100642],"class_list":["post-222174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-cashless-tolls","tag-fdot","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-sunpass","tag-sunshine-skyway-bridge","tag-toll-by-plate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}