Water Metro expected to have daily footfall of over 40,000First lot of 23 ferries to be rolled out from Cochin Shipyard by year-end

06/05/2022 The Hindu

John L. Paul KOCHI

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is eyeing a daily patronage of 40,316 when the entire fleet of 78 ferries envisaged under the ₹747-crore Water Metro project is rolled out in the coming years, it is learnt.

The first lot of 23 ferries, each having passenger capacity of 100 people, is expected to be rolled out from the Cochin Shipyard by year-end. The first batch of five vessels is slated to commence operation on the High Court-Mulavukad-Vypeen route latest by June.

The daily patronage is expected to increase to 86,112 by 2035. According to official sources, the 40,316-figure is realistic and achievable, since Water Metro ferries will be a tourist attraction as well, linking mainland Kochi with the many pristine islands that dot the backwaters. The hybrid ferries could attain operational break-even in the first three to four years of their launch even if the average passenger capacity was 40%, said the sources.

The expected patronage for the Water Metro ferries had led to scepticism. Stakeholders in the public transport sector reasoned that Kochi Metro enjoyed a patronage of approximately a tenth of the 4-lakh-plus commuters that had been projected in the detailed project report readied by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Sources said islanders would get the benefit of discounted rates (KMRL’s Director Board had vested the agency’s MD with the power). The possible introduction of season tickets is yet another reason for the vessels to have adequate patronage. “There is also the option to re-route ferries to routes where demand is higher,” they added.

Ebenser Chullikat, who operated ferries from the mainland to Varapuzha until the Goshree bridges were built, said, “The expected patronage projected by KMRL appears to be a rosy figure, especially since the State Water Transport Department [SWTD] ferries from the mainland to West Kochi have a daily footfall averaging at 15,000. The KMRL must announce the patronage that it expects in each of the different Water Metro routes.”

The agency must also proactively woo tourists, considering that the ferries were highly capital intensive, each priced at ₹8.30 crore, in order to improve patronage, failing which it would meet a similar fate as Kochi Metro, he said.

A route that holds immense tourism potential is the 25-km Fort Kochi-Eloor route, through Kochi city, Mulavukad, Pizhala, Kadamakudy, Cheranellore and Varapuzha. It must also issue inter-modal combo tickets and rope in more than one bank to issue prepaid travel cards, he added.