The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is launching a new bus route to connect St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport.
The route is called the 727 Airport Express, a nod to the county’s area code. The agency announced the new route on Monday, 7/27, the county’s unofficial holiday.
It’s expected to start in October and will operate seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., with nine stops in downtown St. Petersburg. The fare is $2.25 one way.
“This is more than a new route,” Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority CEO Brad Miller said in a news release. “It’s a transformational investment in how our region moves.”
It will be the first express bus route to connect downtown St. Petersburg directly to Tampa International. The bus will travel on the new Howard Frankland Bridge express lanes, according to the news release, to bypass “congestion that has historically impacted travel between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.”
The hybrid buses will have luggage racks and will also connect with SunRunner stops downtown.
At a Monday news conference, Hillsborough Commissioner Harry Cohen said the new route is the start of real transit across Tampa Bay. Cohen serves on the airport board of directors.
“We connect everywhere in the world; we haven’t connected enough in our own backyard,” Cohen said. “And now, we are putting our region together.”
The transit authority hosted an open house in June with a draft route. That draft shows stops on the pier by the Museum of Fine Arts, outside The Hollander Hotel, near Jannus Live and outside the Palladium Theater. But the agency said it still needs to finalize the nine stops downtown.
The airport express is set to replace Route 100, which connected the Marion Transit Center in Tampa to the St. Pete Pier. Route 100 crossed the Gandy Bridge before it continued to Interstate 275 to downtown St. Petersburg. That route ran Monday through Friday and had multiple stops along the way, so it wasn’t considered an express route to the airport.
Tampa International Airport CEO Michael Stephens said in Monday’s news release that the route will support growth for Tampa and St. Petersburg.
“This new express service will offer a convenient, reliable, and sustainable link across the bridge for our 25 million annual passengers and nearly 11,000 employees,” Stephens said. “I look forward to working with PSTA and continuing conversations with all of our transit partners to promote and expand these kinds of vital transportation options.”
The airport route has been in demand for more than a decade, said transit authority spokesperson Stephanie Weaver. In November 2014, a transportation referendum appeared on the ballot for Pinellas voters. It would have increased the county’s sales tax to expand bus service by 65%, but it failed.
