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<\/p>\nThe Brief<\/p>\n
Two new vessels have been secured for the return of Tampa Bay ferry service.<\/p>\n
Officials say the new vessels\u00a0bring more capacity, more schedule options, and a backup boat for maintenance.<\/p>\n
Officials will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the new updates.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay\u2019s ferry service is moving closer to a comeback with two new vessels secured for the route between Tampa and St. Pete.<\/p>\n
The boats are expected to bring more flexibility to the service, including more departure options during peak times and a backup option when one vessel needs maintenance.<\/p>\n
One of the boats is similar in size to the previous Cross Bay Ferry vessel, while the other is significantly larger, increasing overall capacity to 250 passengers.<\/p>\n
What we know<\/p>\n
The new ferry operation will look different from the previous service, which ended last year after challenges with the operator and vessel availability.<\/p>\n
Local officials began searching for a new arrangement after declining a proposal to replace the ferry\u2019s successful vessel with a slower and more expensive option.<\/p>\n
This time, the boats will be owned locally, and Pinellas County-based Hubbard\u2019s Marina will operate the service.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hubbard\u2019s Marina has been a fixture in the Tampa Bay area for nearly a century and says the goal is to create a more locally focused experience onboard.<\/p>\n
The long term goal is to operate the ferry year-round between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying<\/p>\n
Captain Dylan Hubbard says the new service will highlight local businesses, with plans to feature food, drinks and products from Bay Area restaurants and breweries.<\/p>\n
“This is going to be locals who live here and every part of the service, the amenities, the food, the drink\u2026 we\u2019re trying to get from ultra-local purveyors to give kind of credence to our area.”<\/p>\n
Hubbard says renovations to the vessels will also focus on creating a comfortable experience for passengers traveling across the bay.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s what it\u2019s all it about: experiential tourism. That\u2019s our focus. We want to provide a really awesome entertaining cruise, something that\u2019s going to make memories.”<\/p>\n
What will be the cost?<\/p>\n
Hubbard says the goal is to keep tickets affordable, with prices expected to be around $10.<\/p>\n
What we don’t know<\/p>\n
A firm launch date has not been announced.<\/p>\n
Hubbard says if everything stays on track, service could return sometime in October or November, but renovations to the vessels and coast guard inspections will first need to be completed.<\/p>\n
The Source<\/p>\n
Information from Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard\u2019s Marina, local officials involved with the ferry project, and previous FOX 13 News reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Two new vessels have been secured for the return of Tampa Bay ferry service. Officials say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[131346,45670,39886,15089,131347,726,135,1526,9019,137,136],"class_list":["post-315993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-dylan-hubbard","tag-ferry-service","tag-hubbards-marina","tag-local-businesses","tag-previous-service","tag-service","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-area","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315993","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=315993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}