The first lot of the Kochi Water Metro ferries that were launched on two routes just over a month ago transported over three lakh passengers.
The number climbed to 3.26 lakh as on Wednesday even as a couple of ferries from among the fleet of nine remained berthed as spare vessels. “On an average, over 9,000 people have been commuting in the ferries every day. We hope to attract more commuters, a bulk of them tourists, as the Cochin Shipyard delivers more ferries and their services are extended to Chitoor, Eloor, and Fort Kochi in the coming months,” official sources said.
They added that two more ferries were expected by June-end, and that subsequent deliveries would be at the rate of two every month in order to complete the handing over of all the 23 ferries by December.
Long queues of commuters continue to be the norm at the four Water Metro terminals in the High Court-Vypeen and Vyttila-Kakkanad corridors. The demand for tickets is more at the High Court terminal, despite ferries operating every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The frequency of ferry services was raised on the Vyttila-Kakkanad route as well, catering to demand.
“Long queues begin forming at 10 a.m., and the trend continues till late in the evening. Faced with rush of commuters, the terminal’s gates are often closed at 6.30 p.m., by which time there are ample number of commuters for the last ferry that leaves at 8 p.m. This shows that commuters are willing to wait for 90 minutes or even more to board the air-conditioned, electric-propelled hybrid vessels,” the sources said.
“We are confident that the trend continues, especially when ferries begin operating on the High Court-Fort Kochi route in another four months. Work on the Fort Kochi jetty is nearing completion, and it will be followed by the installation of floating pontoons and a marine platform,” they added.
However, stakeholders are disheartened as work on the Mattancherry terminal — the one that held similar potential to woo commuters and tourists — is yet to begin. The work had been de-scoped from the purview of a contracting firm that had won the bid. With a subsequent retendering not yielding results, Kochi Water Metro Limited is now engaged in the second retendering process.
