Hillsborough County has the lead responsibility for facilitating the capital financing of the Ferry Project once design and permitting is completed. The Ferry Project will likely be eligible for a variety of federal and state funds to pay for the capital costs, which could cover 80% or more of these costs. By example, the County and HART were able to secure a $4.9 million grant for a 350 passenger ferry vessel in 2022, for which Hillsborough County pledged a 20% local match.
HMS will be responsible for operating and maintaining the ferry system once it is built. HMS has indicated that it would be able to do this from system revenues without the need for state or local operating subsidies. This would mean the Cross Bay Ferry commuter and intercity system would be the only public transit system in Florida that would not need local or state funds to operate. The Ferry Plan does rely upon the availability of federal transit vouchers for federal employees that make use of the MAFB commuter. Such vouchers are already being used by MAFB employees for HART’s MAFB express bus service.
Both the County’s capital contribution and HMS’ assumption of operating and maintenance costs will be finalized at the complete of project design and permitting and incorporated into the terms and conditions of a comprehensive public private partnership agreement between Hillsborough County, HMS and South Swell.
