Just over a month after the Cross Bay Ferry apparently sailed its last voyage across the bay, there is a plan to revive it.
On Monday, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority approved the transfer of a $4.8 million federal grant to its Pinellas counterpart for the purchase of one or two boats that could replace the now-defunct service.
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The Cross Bay Ferry suspended its service at the end of April after it couldn’t come to an agreement with the ferry operator.
The operator at the time wanted to use a different, slower vessel that would take twice as long as the already 50-minute one-way trip, leading officials to end the contract five months early.
It had run since 2016 and carried a record 72,000 passengers last year.
Last week, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority voted to accept the funds if HART would transfer the grant.
HART received the almost $5 million federal grant in 2021 for a passenger ferry service, but it went unused after a plan for a ferry to MacDill Air Force Base fell through.
PSTA CEO Brad Miller said the grant would lower or eliminate local contributions needed to keep the ferry service afloat.
But HART board member John King objected to the transfer of the funds, citing the national debt.
“I don’t see why it’s being spent on what amounts to a joyride on Tampa Bay,” King said.
King added that the ferry would be slower, not improve traffic on the bridges and only make roughly $1.5 million a year.
However, secretary Gil Schisler explained the federal grant will be given to another city for a ferry if it goes unused by Hillsborough or Pinellas County.
"These monies will go somewhere,” he said. “We might as well have them go in a region where they benefit all of us."
Chairperson Luis Viera echoed his support for the transfer.
“To me, this is not the venue to talk about our national debt because what we do here, in my opinion, will have no bearing on that,” Viera said.
The transfer is pending final approval from the Federal Transit Administration, which originally awarded the grant.
The ferry service could be running again as early as next year.
