KOCHI: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) will deploy e-feeder services connecting Kakkanad Water Metro terminal with Infopark and Collectorate from January 29. The three fully air-conditioned ‘Metro Connect’ buses are expected to be useful for software employees who could now enjoy first and last mile connectivity, travelling from the city.
“The Infopark campus alone employs nearly 75,000 staff and the figure crosses over 1 lakh when the workers of Smart City and the Kinfra Park are also taken into account. We expect a good number of the staff to make use of the Water Metro once the feeder buses start operating. We have already increased the frequency of the water metro services in the Vyttila-Kakkanad section to 20 minutes from Monday last.
We did a trial run involving the Infopark employees on Friday and it evoked a good response,” said Sajan P John, chief operating officer, Kochi Water Metro.
The 33-seater e-feeder buses will ply in the Kakkanad Water Metro-Kinfra-Infopark route from 8 am to 7.15 pm at an interval of 25 minutes.
“Besides, ‘Metro Connect’ buses will start daily from Kalamassery Metro station to Infopark, via Civil Station and Water Metro terminal, at 7am, 7.20am and 7.50am. In the evening, an e-feeder bus will start from Infopark at 7.15 pm and proceed to Kalamassery via Water Metro and Kakkanad,” a statement said.
Similarly, ‘Metro Connect’ services will be available in the Kakkanad Water Metro-Collectorate route at an interval of 20 minutes from 8am to 7.30pm. The ticket rate is `20.
The KMRL introduced its newly-purchased electric feeder buses in the Aluva-Airport and Kalamassery-Medical College Hospital routes on January 16, which have turned out to be a success.
“Over 15,500 passengers availed of the service in these routes so far. An average 1,900 commuters travel daily in the e-feeder buses in these two routes. With the start of the services, there has been a rise in the number of commuters travelling in Kochi Metro from Aluva and Kalamassery metro stations as well,” the statement added.
‘Metro Connect’ services are available in the Aluva-Airport route from 6.45am to 11 pm at an interval of 20 minutes during the peak hours and 30 minutes during non-peak hours. The ticket fare is Rs 80.