Water taxis may soon cost less

Authorities looking for operators that can run the service at nearly half the current fare; the process of extending the route from Belapur in Navi Mumbai to Gateway of India is underway

The water taxi connecting Mumbai with Navi Mumbai and Elephanta Caves will not just be faster, it will also cost much less than proposed. The authorities are trying to get operators who will charge not more than Rs 495 per person for a one-way trip. The proposed time for the journeys is 35-45 minutes as against 60-90 minutes between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by road and train, and one hour by boat to Elephanta.

The government is in the process of extending the route from Belapur in Navi Mumbai to Gateway of India, which currently is up to the Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) at Bhaucha Dhakka. Water taxis started in February this year, but the response has been poor so far mostly owing to the price and not being able to reach Gateway directly.

As per senior government officials, in the initial phase, they are looking at bringing down the fares to Rs 495-Rs 500 on the Belapur-Elephanta route, which is mainly used by tourists and is preferred during weekends.

At present, a trip from DCT-JNPT-Elephanta-DCT and Belapur-JNPT-Elephanta-Belapur costs Rs 800. Sources said that if the demand for this route and footfall increases, they may look at operators who will offer fares in the range of Rs 375-Rs 400 per trip. However, there is no immediate implementation of the fare reduction in the pipeline. Though, to improve the demand for water taxis more ro-pax will be introduced in near future to Kashid and Rewas.

An official said, “We have decided to bring water taxis up to Gateway of India to attract more passengers. This, however, will take time; probably post-monsoon.”

Apart from this, there are also plans of getting environment friendly water taxi boats into the system. Private operators and Mumbai Maritime Board are working on introducing solar and electric based catamarans and boats that will run as water taxis.

By September-October this year, at least two such boats are expected to come at a cost of nearly Rs 2 crore each. Their functionality will be tested before introducing them for commercial use.