- India first water-based metro service in Kochi witnesses a flurry of passengers on Day 1
6,559 people used the Kochi Water Metro on Wednesday, one day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration. The nation’s first water-based metro service opened for business on Wednesday at 7 am and ended at 8 pm. The metro project would use eight electric hybrid boats made by Cochin Shipyard Limited on the High Court-Vypin route and the Vyttila-Kakkanad route.
Service on the High Court-Vypin route has already begun; however, Vyttila-Kakkanad service will commence on Thursday. Traffic-free commuters will be able to get to Vypin Terminal from High Court Terminal in less than 20 minutes, according to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The single-use fare for 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 up to 12 times is priced at ₹180 while the monthly pass that enables up to 50 trips costs ₹600 and the quarterly pass with 150 trips is priced at ₹1500.
Using the Kochi One Card and the Kochi One App, passengers can purchase tickets for travel on the Kochi Metro Rail and Kochi Water Metro. Kerala Water Metro was constructed for a price of 1,136.83 crore thanks to funding from the Kerala government and a loan from the KfW, a state-owned investment and development bank in Germany. When fully operational, the project will use 78 electric boats and 38 terminals to connect 10 islands around the port city, carrying about 34,000 passengers daily.
The coveted Gussies Award (France) for the best commercial passenger electric boat was given to Kochi Water Metro last year. On the 76 kilometre projected route, they can carry up to 100 people and generate almost zero sound and vibration while running.
