{"id":390651,"date":"2026-09-04T20:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T20:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390651\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T20:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T20:12:07","slug":"psta-secures-key-funding-for-permanent-tampa-st-pete-ferry-dock-at-st-pete-pier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390651\/","title":{"rendered":"PSTA secures key funding for permanent Tampa-St. Pete ferry dock at St. Pete Pier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The Tampa terminal will remain in front of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/tcc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tampa Convention Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The service will replace the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrossbayferry.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cross Bay Ferry<\/a>, which first launched in 2016 with a leased vessel and generally operated seasonally before expanding to year-round service during its final season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The route ended in 2025 after Hillsborough County commissioners voted to terminate their agreement with former operator HMS Ferries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">PSTA selected Hubbard\u2019s Ferry last year to operate the new service. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Unlike the previous ferry, the Tampa Bay Ferry will begin with vessels owned by PSTA, a change officials believe will provide more dependable service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The agency used a $4.8 million Federal Transit Administration grant, originally awarded in 2021, to purchase two vessels with guidance from the Hubbard family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The 250-passenger Bay Breeze has arrived at Tarpon Marine Services in Tarpon Springs for inspections and refurbishment. A second vessel, the 149-passenger Bay Clipper, formerly known as the San Juan Clipper, is also being refurbished there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa terminal will remain in front of the Tampa Convention Center. The service will replace the former&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-390651","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\/390651","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=390651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}