Tampa-St. Pete market gets ready for the ferry

Organizers behind a St. Petersburg/Tampa ferry service released a calendar of upcoming milestones in the highly anticipated project, leading to an inaugural launch trip in early November.

The service, according to a statement, now has a formal name: The Cross-Bay Ferry. The launch of the Cross-Bay Ferry is part of collaboration between the City of St. Petersburg, the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County and Pinellas County, according to a statement.

“Everywhere I go, people ask me about the ferry,” St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, an early supporter of the project, says in the statement. “The Cross-Bay Ferry is a fantastic example of regional collaboration to take on an important challenge - transportation - in a way that's exciting to experience and pays homage to our maritime history. Importantly, this is a test project, and we need the community to support this if we want it to continue and expand.”