KOCHI: Passengers using boat service from Vyttila Mobility Hub to Kakkanad will have a feeder service available from Kakkanad Boat Jetty to Infopark and the civil station from Friday.
The boat, ‘City Water Bus’, initiated by the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and run by the State Water Transport Department had started operating from Vyttila Mobility Hub at Kakkanad from September, 2013, with the aim of developing alternate transportation routes to minimise traffic congestion along the city’s Metro corridor where construction is underway.
However, the initial response was not encouraging as the passengers found it difficult to get feeder services to Infopark and the Collectorate.
There was also demand from boat-users and city dwellers to provide seamless connectivity from the Kakkanad Boat Jetty to Infopark and the Collectorate since there is no public transportation system from the Kakkanad Boat Jetty presently. Hence, the authorities have come up with the idea of launching free shuttle feeder bus from Kakkanad Boat Jetty. Benny Behanan MLA will flag off the service in the presence of KMRL managing director Elias George.
“We are hopeful that this feeder service will attract more passengers to use the boat service, thus reducing congestion along with Metro corridor,” Elias George said. The boat which is conducting service from Vyttila Hub has a capacity of 50 passengers and 10 two-wheelers. The fare is `8 per passenger while that for each two-wheeler is `25.