The Florida Department of Transportation is moving the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to fully electronic, cashless tolling, a long-anticipated change that officials say will ease those dreaded backups at the toll plaza but that has already meant pink slips for dozens of toll workers. As part of a resurfacing project on the St. Petersburg approach, crews will pull out the cash-collection gear, while the concrete lane dividers and overhead structures are expected to sit there for years to come. For many longtime booth workers, the flip to cash-free tolls brings a sudden end to steady paychecks and forces fast decisions about what comes next.
According to Tampa Bay Business Journal, the change will leave “dozens unemployed” on the St. Petersburg side of the bridge. The Business Observer obtained a WARN letter from TTEC, the contractor that staffed the toll booths, outlining plans to lay off 57 employees, including 47 toll collectors, eight supervisors and one custodian, with most of those jobs ending April 14. The company told the Observer it is trying to line up other roles for affected workers and offer some transition support.
FDOT outlines phased plan
State transportation officials told St. Petersburg City Council that the northbound, St. Pete-side conversion will roll out along with the resurfacing work and that cash-collection equipment will be removed during that phase. Brian Hunter, FDOT's modal development administrator, said the bigger job, taking out the lane dividers and overhead structures, will come later and could stretch the physical remnants of the old plaza out until about 2029 or 2030. “That's a little bigger of a project for us,” Hunter said, as reported by Axios Tampa Bay.
Drivers will need SunPass or pay-by-plate
Once the system is fully cashless, motorists will need to use SunPass transponders or pay via Toll-By-Plate video billing. Axios noted that it is still not clear when the Manatee County side of the bridge will follow suit, leaving the southbound timing a question mark for now. Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise says SunPass customers typically get the cheapest rates, around a 25% discount compared with Toll-By-Plate, and Toll-By-Plate invoices carry a $2.50 administrative fee for mailed bills, which can quickly bump up costs for drivers who stick with license-plate billing.
Workers face an April cutoff
The Business Observer's copy of TTEC's WARN letter states that the company plans to wind down most operations at the bridge's north and south ends on April 14, with one senior supervisor staying on until April 30. TTEC told the Observer that the notice covers positions currently scheduled to end in April and that more roles could be affected later as the client contract is phased out. According to the Observer, city officials had not issued independent details on the staffing shakeup at the time of reporting.
Longstanding bottleneck prompted the move
Regular Skyway commuters have complained for years that cash booths choke traffic at the approaches, and local coverage shows FDOT has been weighing electronic options for months. Bay News 9 has highlighted driver frustration with toll-plaza backups and reported that FDOT has pointed to other Florida roads that made the jump to all-electronic tolls. The Skyway shift fits into a broader statewide move toward cashless tolling that agencies say cuts congestion and reduces delays when crashes or breakdowns happen near toll plazas.
What to watch next
Next up, watch for FDOT to release a detailed construction and conversion schedule spelling out the resurfacing timeline and when the remaining plaza structures will come down, and for any new notices from TTEC about further layoffs or reassignment options. The Tampa Bay Business Journal is following the story and plans to publish updates as more information surfaces.
