Commissioner Murman quoted in this TBBJ article on ferry:
MacDill Air Force Base ferry closer to reality
Feb 1, 2017, 5:17pm EST
ReporterTampa Bay Business Journal
Ferry service connecting South Hillsborough County to MacDill Air Force Base may soon be coming, after Hillsborough County Commissioners said they plan to spend $750,000 on a professional design and engineering study to begin the process of creating a route.
Commissioner Sandra Murman took the matter even further, proposing the county should create a ferry route, along with ancillary transportation service to connect riders from their home or office to the dock.
Both motions were approved unanimously.
“We would have a very strong commuter service that would reduce the travel on our roadways by 100,000 miles each day,” Murman said.
She said the route is ideal for transit because there are 8,000 employees at MacDill and South County residency is on the rise.
During a test trip in November, the existing Cross Bay Ferry that currently runs between downtown Tampa and downtown St. Petersburg clocked the MacDill route to the Apollo Beach area at about 12 minutes. The same route by car takes 45 minutes, longer with traffic issues.
The Cross Bay Ferry is a six-month pilot project gauging user support. HMS Ferries, the company facilitating the project, has recorded what it describes as strong ridership. But even ferry supporters acknowledge the number of paying passengers would not support a privately run service without a public subsidy.
In a third motion, Commissioner Victor Crist asked that Visit Tampa Bay, the county’s tourism marketing arm, evaluate ferry advertising strategies.
The Cross Bay Ferry is a large boat with a capacity of 149 passengers. A boat used for transit to and from MacDill would likely be smaller and have a quick boarding feature. Boarding on the Cross Bay Ferry takes about 15 minutes. A fast-board boat could cut that time significantly, making it more ideal for commuter service.
