Tampa Bay Ferry gets $850,000 federal investment for dock in St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Ferry is one step closer to setting sail.

Local leaders just announced federal money to help pay for the permanent dock in St. Pete. The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority recently bought two vessels for the ferry service that’ll run between Tampa and St. Pete.

Friday, U.S. Representative Kathy Castor helped announce that $850,000 in federal funding will go towards the permanent dock’s roughly $3 million cost. The permanent dock will be built along the St. Pete Pier near the Museum of History.

It’s in the design phase right now. In the meantime, the city is building a temporary dock along Bayshore Drive that’ll hopefully be done later this month.

"How wonderful will it be for our commuters to be able to avoid getting in a car, sitting in traffic, to be able to come across the Bay," Representative Castor said. "This is the first step in a broader initiative to solve problems, to reduce congestion and reduce costs for our neighbors."

The backstory:

You may remember, the old ferry service ended last year over a contract dispute with the previous vendor.

The two boats that PSTA used a $4.8 million federal grant to buy are currently being refurbished in Tarpon Springs. PSTA owns the boats, and Hubbard’s Marina, a staple in the area for almost a century, will operate them.

The Bay Breeze can carry 250 passengers and the Bay Clipper can fit 150. They’ll offer the service year-round, seven days a week.

What they're saying:

"We've been working towards getting this ferry back on the water, and it's so nice to see these pieces finally start coming together, and the end is in sight," Captain Dylan Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Marina, said. "Both boats are now in Tarpon Springs in Pinellas County and the refurbishment work is well underway. The permanent dock will give this ferry a reliable, safe and dedicated location here in downtown St. Petersburg. Having two boats will also give us flexibility and should help us give the service more dependably over time to more people."

"Our residents are one step closer to enjoying first-class, reliable Tampa Bay ferry service," St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said. "Beyond the role the dock will play for the cross-bay ferry, this stop will serve as a critical linkage for transit systems on both sides of the Bay. A few steps away, we have downtown stops for SunRunner, the first in the region bus rapid transit system that allows folks from across Tampa Bay to head to our beaches and our downtown without ever getting in a car if they don't want to," he said.

The ferry will dock near the Convention Center on the Tampa side.

What's next:

PSTA also just got a $16.5 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to buy a new vessel for the Tampa Bay Ferry. They’ll be designing the new, 249-passenger ferry vessel, and securing a U.S. shipbuilder by 2029 or 2030.

St. Petersburg