Getting Around Tampa: Buses, Streetcar, Airports, Tolls and Bridges

Tampa transit without a car means HART buses across Hillsborough County, the TECO Line Streetcar between downtown Tampa, Channelside and Ybor City, and the free In-Towner downtown circulator (HART).

HART covers an area of about 1,000 square miles with a fleet of almost 200 buses, running Local routes inside Hillsborough County plus Limited Express and Commuter Express service from Park-and-Ride lots (HART bus services). The In-Towner, Route 96, is fare free and stops every 15 minutes, starting from Marion Transit Center in downtown Tampa (HART In-Towner).

The TECO Line Streetcar is a 2.7 mile fixed guideway line built as a joint project of the City of Tampa and HART. Its first 2.4 mile segment opened in 2002 and a 0.3 mile extension opened in December 2010 (City of Tampa, TECO Line Streetcar). Cars run every 15 minutes: Monday through Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Friday 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. and Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. HART may add extra streetcar service for crowds at the Gasparilla Festival or sports events, and the HART info line is (813) 254-4278 (City of Tampa).

Student riders in Tampa have their own deals. The HART U-Pass lets University of South Florida students ride Local, Limited Express and HARTFlex service free, a 31-Day Local Adult Student Farecard costs $48.75 at schools such as the University of Tampa (Vaughn Center), and Hillsborough Community College students can buy a $110 semester pass on Flamingo Fares (HART student fares).

One practical note on the TECO Line Streetcar fare: the City of Tampa page, updated September 28, 2026, still explains fares through the three years of free fares HART introduced in October 2018 with an FDOT grant (City of Tampa). That window has long passed on paper, so the HART info line is the place to confirm the current streetcar fare before a trip to Ybor City. The city is also studying the InVision: Tampa Streetcar Extension with FDOT funding.

Tampa International Airport is run by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, whose roughly 650 full-time employees also operate three general aviation airports (Tampa International Airport administration).

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority is governed by a five-member board. Three members are Hillsborough County residents appointed by the Governor for four-year terms, and the Mayor of the City of Tampa and a Hillsborough County commissioner serve ex officio. The chief executive officer is Michael Stephens, and the airport address is 4100 George J. Bean Parkway (Tampa International Airport).

HART Routes 10, 30 and 32 serve Tampa International Airport seven days a week. Route 10 runs between downtown Tampa and the airport from 5:30 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekends, and Route 32 links the airport with the Netpark Transfer Center every hour (HART). The airport stops sit near the Rental Car Center, which riders reach on SkyConnect from the Red Baggage Claim.

The three smaller Hillsborough County Aviation Authority fields are Peter O. Knight Airport (TPF) on Davis Islands, operated by Atlas Aviation, Tampa Executive Airport (VDF) near the I-4 and I-75 corridor, and Plant City Airport (PCM) in eastern Hillsborough County (Tampa International Airport, general aviation). The airport's general aviation page still places Peter O. Knight Airport near Amalie Arena, but the downtown Tampa arena's Benchmark International Arena name was announced on August 13, 2025 (Tampa Bay Lightning).

Tampa toll routes include the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, a 17 mile all-electronic toll road run by THEA (THEA), and the new I-275 express lanes across the Howard Frankland Bridge, tolled through SunPass since August 22, 2026 (FDOT).

The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority is an independent state agency that owns, maintains and operates four facilities in Hillsborough County: the Selmon Expressway, the Brandon Parkway, Meridian Avenue and the Selmon Greenway (THEA). The Selmon Expressway links Pinellas County, West Hillsborough, downtown Tampa, Brandon and southern Hillsborough, and its upper deck, the Reversible Express Lanes, carries westbound traffic from Brandon to Tampa in the morning and eastbound traffic in the evening and on weekends (THEA, Selmon Expressway). Thanks to the Selmon West Extension, drivers join the expressway at the south end of the Gandy Bridge and reach I-75 in Brandon without a stoplight.

On the Howard Frankland Bridge, FDOT opened express lanes in the median of I-275 from 4th Street North in St. Petersburg to just north of the bridge in Tampa. As of August 22, 2026, tolls are collected electronically 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the SunPass Prepaid Toll Program, and only passenger vehicles, registered vanpools and buses may use the lanes (FDOT, Howard Frankland Bridge).

For Selmon toll questions, THEA lists an admin office line at 1-813-272-6740 that holds no customer toll records, and a SunPass walk-in center at 2056 Badlands Drive in Brandon (THEA contacts). Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Tampa, HART, THEA and FDOT websites.

Two major FDOT road jobs in Tampa are the $973.4 million Howard Frankland Bridge replacement, estimated to finish in late 2026, and the $227.5 million Downtown Tampa Interchange at I-275 and I-4, estimated to finish in spring 2027 (FDOT; FDOT).

The Howard Frankland Bridge project covers 5.8 miles from 4th Street in Pinellas County to State Road 60 in Hillsborough County. It started in spring 2020 and is built by the Archer Western/Traylor Bros Joint Venture (FDOT project page). A new 12 foot wide, barrier-separated shared-use path for walkers and cyclists has opened along the north side of the new bridge, nearly seven miles long.

The Downtown Tampa Interchange started in fall 2023 and is built by The Lane Construction Corporation (FDOT, Downtown Tampa Interchange). The work widens the westbound I-4 ramp to northbound I-275 from one lane to two, widens the westbound I-4 ramp to southbound I-275 from two lanes to three, and moves the eastbound I-4 exit to Ybor City from 21st and 22nd Streets to 14th and 15th Streets. The eastbound I-4 frontage road, 13th Avenue, also widens to two lanes.

A practical tip for drivers heading into Ybor City from the east: the exit change on eastbound I-4 means older directions that point to 21st and 22nd Streets will not match the finished Downtown Tampa Interchange. The FDOT project pages list the public information contact at 813-975-6204 for both jobs (FDOT).

Port Tampa Bay, headquartered at 1101 Channelside Drive in Tampa, homeports eight cruise vessels from five cruise lines and moves container, bulk, general, refrigerated and roll-on roll-off cargo (Port Tampa Bay).

The TECO Line Streetcar connects downtown Tampa with the Channelside District and Ybor City (City of Tampa), and HART lists Channelside Bay Plaza among the destinations of the fare free In-Towner (HART). Port Tampa Bay lists its main phone as 813-905-7678 and a toll-free line of 800-741-2297, and its site carries the cruise schedules, cruise parking and a terminal guide (Port Tampa Bay). The Port of Tampa guide covers the cargo side, from its tonnage rank to its history.

Eight Tampa transportation guides go deeper than this hub, from Tampa International Airport and the Davis Islands airfield to the Port of Tampa, the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, I-4 and I-275, and the three Tampa Bay crossings.

The Tampa International Airport guide follows passengers, cargo and the airport's transit links, and the Peter O. Knight Airport guide tells the Davis Islands field's story from its years as the Tampa airline airport. The Lee Roy Selmon Expressway guide covers the Crosstown history and tolls, and the I-4 and I-275 guide covers the downtown interchange rebuild. The Howard Frankland Bridge, Gandy Bridge and Courtney Campbell Causeway guides each take one Tampa Bay crossing, and the Port of Tampa guide covers the seaport.