Sources in Water Metro say that despite the demand, more ferries cannot be started.

A water metro ferry operates in the Vyttila-Kakkanad corridor. The ferry here and on the High Court-Vypin routes is packed with passengers a fortnight after the project was launched. , Photo Credit: H. Vibhu

Even as 1.17 lakh people traveled in the Kochi Water Metro on the High Court-Vypin and Vyttila-Kakkanad routes during the last fortnight, all nine ferries have not been deployed in both the corridors.

Referring to long queues at terminals, NGOs and passengers’ associations said many more people would have benefited if all the nine ships were deployed for daily operations. Each boat with 50 seats can accommodate a maximum of 100 passengers.

Reacting to the matter and reports of withdrawal of some ferries from service for maintenance at Cochin Shipyard, Water Metro sources said they were operating ferries in the High Court-Vypin corridor every 15 minutes. This results in an average of over 9,000 people relying on the service, compared to an estimated 2,900 passengers a day on the stretch. It reached 11,000 passengers in a few days. The original plan was to run ferries at this frequency during peak hours and at a lower frequency during the rest of the day.

Despite the demand, more ferries cannot be introduced in the corridor as the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) Ferry Jetty and Vypin-Fort Kochi Ro-Ro Jetty are located close to the Water Metro Jetty. Too many ships jostling for space in the area is not ideal, while increasing the frequency of services can cause fatigue to crew members.

The frequency of services has also been increased on Vyttila-Kakkanad section keeping in view the demand of passengers. Still many times they have to wait for tickets. While four ferries are operating from the High Court jetty, two ferries are being operated from the Vytila ​​jetty. Three other vessels are being used as spare boats or have been withdrawn from service for periodic maintenance. Besides this, each hybrid ferry in operation has to be recharged every hour, sources said.

The shipyard is expected to deliver two more ferries by the end of June.