Kerala Tourism taxies on water

Kerala Tourism will launch ‘hop-on, hop-off’ boat services and water taxis to ensure “last-mile connectivity” to tourist destinations.

A flagship project of Kerala Tourism under Mission 676, the advanced water transport services will be launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Marine Drive in Kochi on November 13.

Three hop-on, hop-off boats and three water taxis will be launched on the backwaters of Kochi and the Muziris region.

Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Ltd. (KTIL), a government undertaking, will operate the services for one year. These will be handed over to the District Tourism Promotion Council or the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.

The theme branding of boats and water taxis with the paintings of six young artistes is on, a top official of the KTIL told The Hindu .

The paintings, selected by a committee led by K. Jayakumar, Vice Chancellor, Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University, have been developed into full-size vinyl stickers to go round the boats’ exterior.

The air-conditioned boats can ferry 25 persons and the air-conditioned taxis six persons at a time. The services will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The water taxis will operate from point to point and can be contacted over telephone like in the case of call taxis.

Tourists will be offered a single ticket of Rs.350 on the boats with which they can move to Marine Drive, Bolghatty, Vypeen, Fort Kochi, and Mattanchery any number of times during the day. They can disembark and board the boats after exploring tourist attractions.

A 15-minute cruise will cost Rs.750 and sharing of the ride will not be allowed, the official said.

The boats have been purchased at a cost of Rs.2.83 crore made available from Plan funds. A decision on where to park the boats will be taken soon.