{"id":248469,"date":"2026-04-27T17:08:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248469\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:08:45","slug":"st-pete-tampa-ferry-service-to-feature-two-ships-lower-fares-and-daily-year-round-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248469\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete-Tampa ferry service to feature two ships, lower fares, and daily year-round service"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Big transportation news came from downtown Tampa today, with officials announcing major updates on the Tampa Bay Ferry service. The Tampa-St. Pete connector will feature two ships, year-round daily service, and lower fares a dock at the Tampa Convention Center, officials announced today, among other updates.<\/p>\n

The dock by the Tampa Convention Center will continue as its Tampa home, while officials are still finalizing where the St. Pete dock will be located. The announcement in Tampa came from a group including the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), the City of Tampa, and representatives from both St. Pete and Tampa City Councils.<\/p>\n

The ferry service will be operated by Hubbard\u2019s Marina, and fares are expected to start at $10 per person one way, which is less than the former Cross-Bay Ferry, with discounts for seniors. Officials said they are targeting a launch in the second half of 2026, as soon as the ships have arrived and been properly updated.<\/p>\n

The ships will be fully renovated and include a bar on board with snacks, kid-friendly drinks, and adult beverages. The next step is for the PSTA board to approve the use of federal grants to purchase two vessels for Hubbard\u2019s Marina to operate. A vote is set this week to move the purchase forward.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AOne of the potential new ferries<\/p>\n

PSTA had previously identified a 250-passenger ship<\/a> it intends to purchase with federal grants, which will be an upgrade on the previous ship that carried 149 passengers, and the second vessel is likely coming from the same company. The new ships will also have higher speeds, allowing for quicker transportation. The vessels must first pass all sea trials, tests, and surveys, and they must have Federal Transit Administration approval before the purchase is ratified. The ships cost between $2-2.5 million each.<\/p>\n

Hubbard\u2019s Ferry brings deep operational experience, as the family has offered ferry and fishing services in Tampa Bay since the 1930s. What began with Capt. Wilson Hubbard ferrying passengers from\u00a0Pass-a-Grille\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>historic Eighth Avenue pier has grown into a thriving network of on-water businesses. Today, Hubbard\u2019s Ferry operates popular public routes to Egmont Key and Shell Key and will soon expand across Tampa Bay with the new ferry service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to creating this service the right way, so it\u2019s sustainable for the long term,\u201d said PSTA CEO Brad Miller. \u201cThat\u2019s why everyone should be impressed by the effort of the Hubbard\u2019s Marina team, working with our staff, to maximize taxpayer dollars and get two boats with this one federal grant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big transportation news came from downtown Tampa today, with officials announcing major updates on the Tampa Bay Ferry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-248469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248469","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=248469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}