In a few weeks, the Cross Bay Ferry will once again be plying Tampa Bay between downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg. This season, riders will get on and off on the Pinellas side at Port St. Pete.
St. Petersburg Transportation and Parking Director Evan Mory said he doesn't expect it to affect ridership.
"It's obviously a change. But we've been through other changes before. This will actually be the sixth dock location that the ferry's been in in St. Pete and there's been there's been three different ones in Tampa. And so it's never negatively affected ridership in the in the past," he said.
Mory said there's an upside to this new docking site: free parking.
While it's not completely unlimited, it will provide much more leeway for people in a time crunch, said Mory.
"Basically, you know, not for a week, but for as long as a person needs when they're going over to Tampa and back," he said.
You might think the majority of the people who ride the 149-passenger catamaran are tourists. But Mory said that's not so.
"There are a lot of locals that are riding. It's not primarily tourists. We looked at it before and it's about 60% of people with zip codes from this area, whether it be St. Pete or Tampa-Hillsborough area and about 40% are tourists. So it's got a decent number of tourists on it. But it's more weighted towards permanent residents," he said.
The St. Petersburg City Council recently approved money for a permanent dock near the St. Pete Pier. Design money has been set aside, but it's not clear where the construction funds will come from.
Mory said he expects the ferry service to begin again in a few weeks.
This is the seventh season the ferry will be taking passengers between Tampa and St. Petersburg.
The Tampa Ferry Terminal will once again be located on the waterside of the Tampa Convention Center.
