{"id":69848,"date":"2025-12-03T17:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/69848\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T17:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:36:08","slug":"psta-approves-hubbards-marina-as-ferry-operator-to-connect-tampa-and-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/69848\/","title":{"rendered":"PSTA approves Hubbard\u2019s Marina as ferry operator to connect Tampa and St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority\u2019s board has unanimously approved Hubbard\u2019s Marina as the operator of the revamped, year-round ferry that will sail between Tampa<\/a> and St. Pete<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

It was formerly known as the Cross Bay Ferry, but it was shut down in April over a contract issue. Wednesday\u2019s approval will lock Hubbard\u2019s Marina into a five-year operating contract with the option to extend the agreement for another five years.<\/p>\n

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What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Deborah Figgs-Sanders, a PSTA Board Chair and a St. Petersburg City Councilwoman, says the decision to pick Hubbard\u2019s was based on their history in the area.<\/p>\n

“Hubbard\u2019s Marina brings decades of maritime expertise and a deep understanding of our local waterways. Their partnership is essential to creating a service that is built to last and one that the region can be proud of.”<\/p>\n

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The boats have not been purchased yet but the PSTA plans to use close to $5 million in federal money to cover the costs.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS: PSTA Board to vote on Tampa Bay Ferry contract Wednesday<\/a><\/p>\n

The decision to buy a ferry vessel in the San Francisco area has been approved by the board of directors, pending tests and approvals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This vessel has a max capacity of 250 people, while the previous Cross Bay Ferry could only hold 149 people.<\/p>\n

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Hubbard\u2019s Marina established a company, Tampa Bay Sea Taxi, Inc., to operate the ferry and oversee its management, staffing, safety, and daily operations.<\/p>\n

“To do this right, each step will take time. We\u2019re designing a new service that\u2019s sustainable, not restarting an old one that struggled to pay its bills,” Figgs-Sanders said. “PSTA has already identified significant savings over the previous Cross-Bay Ferry by using federal grant dollars to purchase one or more vessels and contracting with a local company to operate the service, instead of an out-of-state firm with crew members who traveled to Tampa Bay and stayed in hotels.”<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS: Tampa, St. Pete leaders approve financial support for ‘Tampa Bay Ferry’<\/a><\/p>\n

The plan is still to dock the ferry near the Vinoy in St. Pete while a long-term dock is built behind the Museum of History. The dock in Tampa will still sit at the Tampa Convention Center.<\/p>\n

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What’s next:<\/p>\n

The goal is to set sail by the spring or the summer.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE:>>> Follow FOX 13 on YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and previous FOX 13 reports.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County<\/a>Tampa<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority\u2019s board has unanimously approved Hubbard\u2019s Marina as the operator…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,629,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,628],"class_list":["post-69848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","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-tampa","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69848","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=69848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}