{"id":68548,"date":"2025-12-02T21:23:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T21:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/68548\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T21:23:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T21:23:37","slug":"new-ferry-could-have-a-regional-domino-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/68548\/","title":{"rendered":"New ferry could have a regional \u2018domino effect\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local political and transportation leaders believe the new Tampa Bay Ferry will help propel area businesses and ongoing efforts to create a regional transit network.<\/p>\n

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority gathered officials from both sides of the bay Tuesday morning to discuss the next steps for a revamped ferry service. Pacuigo Gelato Caff\u00e9 hosted the event along the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront, roughly a quarter of a mile from the planned site of a new, permanent dock.<\/p>\n

PSTA\u2019s governing board will vote Wednesday to approve Hubbard\u2019s Marina as the ferry\u2019s operator<\/a>. Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin said the service is \u201cjust one component of a larger-scale transportation system that the metropolitan area is going to be working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one large metropolitan city, and we have to start treating it like that,\u201d Clendenin said of Tampa Bay. \u201cSo, as we move people across the bay, whether it is via rail, whether it\u2019s via ferry, whether it\u2019s our trail system \u2013 everything is a piece of a much larger puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time to start using our waterways the way they should be used. The way other metropolitan areas around the world use their waterways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa and St. Petersburg approved funding agreements<\/a> for the Tampa Bay Ferry in early November. Each of the service\u2019s anchor cities will pay up to $350,000 annually and receive a percentage of revenues.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg City Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders, who chairs PSTA\u2019s board, is confident her colleagues will offer their approval. \u201cThis marks a pivotal period for our region as we collaborate to define the objectives of this new transportation system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Figgs-Sanders said the overarching goal is to create a sustainable service<\/a> that avoids the Cross Bay Ferry\u2019s financial pitfalls. \u201cEach phase of this process will be thoughtfully executed to ensure optimal results.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll create long-term, repeat customers by hiring an exceptional crew and making trips seamless,\u201d Figgs-Sanders added. \u201cThe right boats, the right docks and the right process, right here in Tampa Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madeira Beach-based Hubbards Marina<\/a>, acting as Tampa Bay Sea Taxi, will operate the new service. CEO Tara Hubbard<\/a> said her father envisioned \u201cviable waterborne transit\u201d in the area for decades.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tara Hubbard (front, left) CEO of Tampa Bay Water Taxi, said the new ferry service would honor her family\u2019s nearly century-old legacy in the area.<\/p>\n

She explained that the service, which should begin in the spring or summer of 2026, honors her family\u2019s legacy. Hubbard\u2019s great-grandfather moved to the area nearly a century ago<\/a> and ferried passengers to the barrier islands \u201cbefore there were even bridges.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg will oversee the construction of an estimated $2.85 million dock. The city has completed a conceptual design for an expanded facility near the St. Petersburg Museum of History and is now working on a detailed version.<\/p>\n

Hubbard hopes to operate multiple vessels<\/a> as part of a year-round service. However, she said stakeholders would make that decision collectively following Wednesday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

A $4.8 million federal grant will also help guide the procurement process. \u201cThere are tons of options for us,\u201d Hubbard said.<\/p>\n

Mark and Debbie Safko went on their first date at Pacuigo Gelato Caff\u00e9. They purchased the shop years later, after they married.<\/p>\n

The Safkos believe a reliable ferry service will bolster their and other small businesses along the downtown waterfront. Mark noted that 77% of Cross Bay Ferry passengers patronized area establishments before the service ran aground in April.<\/p>\n

Darden Rice, chief planning and community officer for PSTA, noted that \u201cpeople are very excited about regional waterborne transit.\u201d She said a sustainable ferry service could lead to additional investments in Tampa Bay\u2019s multimodal transportation network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is going to be a very successful concept,\u201d Rice added. \u201cAnd I\u2019m certainly very hopeful that there will be a domino effect to show people that when we invest in public transit, we\u2019re investing in our economy. And we\u2019re investing in our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the potential for Pinellas and Hillsborough County to partner with PSTA, St. Petersburg and Tampa, Rice said, \u201cI think the real question is, why don\u2019t we already have waterborne transit that\u2019s been long established and successful in the region?\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes the county governments will want to join \u201cthis new economic development force\u201d once the ferry\u2019s current partners prove its viability. Clendenin noted that Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco Counties are working to create a regional metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and that the new Howard Frankland Bridge can accommodate light rail.<\/p>\n

\u201cFerry now, train tomorrow,\u201d Clendenin said.<\/p>\n

Brandon Campbell, interim mobility director for the City of Tampa, said regionalism is the \u201conly way\u201d to solve many of Tampa Bay\u2019s transportation challenges. \u201cWe\u2019re very hopeful that this is one of those tools, in addition to several others we will be pursuing over the next several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tara Hubbard, CEO of Tampa Bay Water Taxi, said the new service would likely use vessels similar to those operated by the Cross Bay Ferry. Photo: City of St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local political and transportation leaders believe the new Tampa Bay Ferry will help propel area businesses and ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-68548","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\/68548","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=68548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}