Tampa Bay Cross-Bay Ferry

History

The inaugural 2016/2017 season was to determine how much demand there would be for such a ferry service, and it turned out to be a pretty substantial success based on ridership & fare revenue. Unfortunately, because of funding commitment issues, the ferry did not return for the 2017/2018 season.

For the 2018/2019 season, which began on November 1, 2018; the scheduling was shifted from a 7-day-a-week basis to a 6-day-a-week basis with no service on Mondays due to low ridership. The purpose of the second season is to determine how service on weekends and later evenings would play out – especially if such was to become a permanent “off-peak” component of a planned ferry line between southeastern Hillsborough County & MacDill Air Force Base in South Tampa.

The 2018/2019 season also tested out relocated ferry landings in both Downtown St. Pete & the Channelside District in Tampa due to construction at the original ferry landings. In addition to the above, the current season provides customers with the option to transfer in between the ferry & the fare-free TECOline Streetcar in Tampa & the fare-free Looper trolley in St. Pete – both providing expanded 7-day-a-week service.

At the conclusion of the 2018/2019 season, a comprehensive evaluation took place as to whether year-round, permanent ferry service can eventually be established. While there is public support for such a service, many hurdles still remained – including how would the various local governments would fund the service.

The ferry returned for the 2019/2020 season, though the tail end of that season was adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Service was able to return to the Tampa Convention Center due to the completion of construction.

For the 2020/2021 season, ferry service remained largely the same, but continued to see impacts from Covid. Ridership was able to largely recover by the end of the 2021/2022 season – with the ferry posting record ridership at the tail end (this was despite a shift in the schedule from 7-day-a-week service to largely Wednesday through Sunday service). The 2022/2023 season saw further ridership increases, with a record-breaking 72,000 passengers boarding during the expanse of the season.

The 2024/2025 service schedule formally kicked off on October 4, 2025 & marked the first year that the ferry would attempt to operate for a full calendar year. Due to unfortunate circumstances surrounding use of the ferry vessel, service was truncated to end on April 30, 2025, with the city of St. Petersburg & Hillsborough County terminating their contracts with HMS. While there is support for some sort of longer-term ferry service between Hillsborough & Pinellas Counties, whether any plan becomes solidified remains to be seen.