Kochi Water Metro records over 6,500 passengers on day one
1 min read . Updated: 27 Apr 2023, 06:50 AM IST
PremiumIndia's first water-based metro, Kochi Water Metro, which was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recorded a footfall of 6,559 passengers on Wednesday, its inaugural day of service.
Kochi Water Metro saw a footfall of 6,559 passengers on Wednesday, a day after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The country's first water-based metro service started commercial operations from 7 am on Wednesday and closed at 8 pm.
Manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited, the metro project will run eight electric hybrid boats on two routes namely, High Court-Vypin route and Vyttila- Kakkanad route. While the operations on the High Court-Vypin route have already started, service on the Vyttila-Kakkanad route will begin on Thursday.
As per Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, commuters will be able to reach Vypin Terminal from High Court Terminal in less than 20 minutes without getting stuck in traffic.
The one-time fare for the journey on the High Court-Vypin route is ₹20 while the fare for Vyttila- Kakkanad route will be ₹30. Water metro passengers also have the option of buying weekly, monthly and quarterly passes. The weekly pass that allows traveling upto 12 times is priced at ₹180 while the monthly pass that enables upto 50 trips costs ₹600 and the quarterly pass with 150 trips is priced at ₹1500.
Passengers can travel in the Kochi Metro Rail and Kochi Water Metro using Kochi One Card and the tickets can be booked digitally through Kochi One App.
Funded by the Kerala government and a loan from German state-owned investment and development bank KfW, Kerala Water Metro is built at a cost of ₹1,136.83 crore. Once fully operational, the project will connect 10 islands around the port city using 78 electric boats and 38 terminals and will ferry around 34,000 passengers on a daily basis.
Last year Kochi Water Metro won the prestigious Gussies Award (France) for the best commercial passenger electric boat in the world. They have the ability to carry up to 100 people on the proposed 76 km route and produce nearly zero sound and vibration while running.
(With inputs from agencies)