For years, there has been talk of ferry service in Tampa Bay, a proposal championed most vocally by former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik. But it was St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman who managed to push the envelope with help from BP settlement funds. Kriseman hustled across the bay to persuade Tampa’s mayor and City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission to kick in money for a cross-bay ferry pilot project, and was able to get the Pinellas County Commission on board as well. All are putting in $350,000 apiece to test out the ferry service’s feasibility, and the pilot is set to begin connecting downtown Tampa to downtown St. Pete in November, with a ride rate of $10 per head. —KB
This article appears in Best of The Bay 2016.
