{"id":422269,"date":"2026-10-08T14:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422269\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:12:10","slug":"new-bus-route-connects-downtown-st-pete-with-tampa-international-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422269\/","title":{"rendered":"New Bus Route Connects Downtown St. Pete With Tampa International Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Travelers can now catch a direct bus from downtown <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"43\" title=\"tbbw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Petersburg<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/2026\/04\/21\/tpa-tampa-st-pete-air-taxi-plan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa International Airport<\/a>, with a new express route running seven days a week across the Howard Frankland Bridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority launched its 727 Airport Express on Sunday, Oct. 4, giving airport employees, visitors and travelers a new way to cross Tampa Bay without driving or paying for airport parking. The service runs from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., using the Howard Frankland Bridge\u2019s express lanes to provide a more direct connection between downtown St. Petersburg and the airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new route also connects with the <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/2026\/05\/18\/central-avenue-zoning-rules\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SunRunner<\/a>, the bus rapid transit service linking downtown St. Petersburg with St. Pete Beach, and PSTA\u2019s broader network of 41 fixed-route bus routes. Those connections give riders from other parts of Pinellas County access to the airport through the downtown transfer point.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/PSTA-MAP-1-1000x563.jpeg\" alt=\"Map of PSTA's 727 Airport Express bus route from downtown St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport\" class=\"wp-image-94275\"  \/>The new 727 Airport Express connects downtown St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport via I-275.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The airport service arrives as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/2026\/08\/24\/clearwater-beach-airport-shuttle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">broader October overhaul of Pinellas County\u2019s bus network<\/a>, which also eliminated two existing routes. PSTA discontinued Routes 90 and 100 on Oct. 4, the same day the 727 Airport Express began operating, and adjusted schedules on several other routes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PSTA will formally celebrate the new service Thursday, Oct. 8, with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting at <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/2026\/05\/21\/tampa-airport-air-taxi-hub\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa International Airport\u2019s SkyCenter Drive location<\/a>. PSTA CEO Brad Miller and airport CEO Michael Stephens are expected to attend, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/tbbwmag.com\/news\/hillsborough-county\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"41\" title=\"hillsborough\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hillsborough County<\/a> Commissioner Harry Cohen, South Pasadena Vice Mayor Tom Reid and St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Steinocher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 727 Airport Express adds another cross-bay connection to a transit system that provides approximately 10.7 million rides annually, including two existing express routes to downtown Tampa. Riders can find route information at <a href=\"https:\/\/psta.net\/727\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">psta.net\/727<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travelers can now catch a direct bus from downtown St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport, with a new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-422269","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\/422269","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=422269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}