Kochi Water Metro
witnessed its highest ridership with over 16,000 people traveling in its
ferries on December 31. The Metro Rail also witnessed 1,13,152 ridership
on the day. The decision of Kochi Water Metro and Metro Rail to extend their service
till midnight to provide transportation facilities to the people celebrating
New Year came as a boon to many.
The average daily ridership in Water Metro is around 6,000, and for Metro
Rail, it is between 80,000 and 90,000. Kochi Metro trains operated till 1 am,
while Water Metro ferries operated till 5 am on January 1.
According to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd officials, it is the highest ridership in Water Metro since its launch in April 2023.
After the Fort Kochi-Vypeen, Bolgatty, and KakkanadVytilla routes, the
Water Metro will soon commence services between High Court Junction and South
Chittoor in a couple of months.“Within six months, the Water Metro will operate
on the Fort Kochi and South Chittoor routes. The trial run on the South
Chittoor route is on,†said a KMRL official.
Currently, the Water Metro
operates 12 boats across three existing routes.
It is also expected that the Tripunithura Metro terminal will be open to
the public in the coming months. “Once the Metro Rail is extended up to
Tripunithura from SN Junction, the average daily ridership is expected to reach
1 lakh,†the official said.