{"id":279404,"date":"2026-05-21T12:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279404\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:35:10","slug":"new-tampa-bay-ferry-service-moves-closer-to-setting-sail-with-vessel-purchase-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279404\/","title":{"rendered":"New Tampa Bay Ferry service moves closer to setting sail with vessel purchase approved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/i6axsc8is2v93jn5.jpg\" alt=\"Tampa Bay Ferry reaches new deal\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/video\/fmc-t7787g9tzyh1tzpn\" data-v-4292be72=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa Bay Ferry reaches new deal<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-4292be72=\"\">The Tampa Bay Ferry Service is almost ready to start. The operators are close to acquiring the two boats they&#8217;ll need to carry passengers along the bay. FOX 13&#8217;s Kailey Tracy brings the latest.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. &#8211; A new cross-bay transit service is closer to reality after local transit officials secured a deal to purchase one of two vessels.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/pinellas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pinellas <\/a>Suncoast Transit Authority received unanimous approval from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority\u2019s board of directors to buy the Bay Breeze ferry on May 14 for $1.6 million.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vlcsnap-2026-05-21-07h59m21s377.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">PSTA is utilizing a portion of a nearly $5 million federal grant to purchase and refurbish a total of two vessels. The transit agency is also eyeing a second boat, the Seattle-based San Juan Clipper. They also have a backup boat option in Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vlcsnap-2026-05-21-07h59m53s297.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">While PSTA will own the boats, Hubbard\u2019s Marina, a staple in the area for nearly 100 years, will operate them.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Details, like the service\u2019s schedule, are still being figured out, but it will operate year-round. PSTA and Hubbard\u2019s says they hope to dock the ferry near the Vinoy along Bayshore Drive in St. Pete and near the Convention Center in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vlcsnap-2026-05-21-07h59m46s368.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">A previous seasonal ferry service in the region ended last year following a contract dispute with the previous vendor. The goal is to start tickets for the new ferry service at $10.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Representatives from Hubbard\u2019s Marina plan to travel to the West Coast in the coming weeks to conduct sea trials on the vessels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story is from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority\u2019s board of directors meeting, Hubbard\u2019s Marina and PSTA.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/pinellas\/st-petersburg\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Petersburg<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Ferry reaches new deal The Tampa Bay Ferry Service is almost ready to start. The operators&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":["post-279404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279404","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=279404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}