SWTD to offer conducted tours on from April
The fast ferry of the State Water Transport department (SWTD), Vega 120, which operated in the VaikomErnakulamFort Kochi corridor till the pandemic struck, is set to operate conducted tours in the Kochi backwaters from April. The ferry had confined its operations to a limited stretch from Perumbalam following a technical snag. It was withdrawn from service in December 2022 and sent for drydocking, sources said.
It remained off service, although it was initially slated to rejoin the fleet of ferries that operated in the passengerdense ErnakulamFort Kochi corridor in August 2023. Vega, which had 40 seats in its airconditioned (AC) cabin and 80 seats in its nonAC space, was popular since it covered the ErnakulamFort Kochi distance in around 12 minutes, as compared to 20 minutes that other ferries took. Its fare was ₹10, while those who travelled in the AC cabin paid ₹20.
A trial run was done on Wednesday, where a technical snag was detected. This would be set right in another 10 days, following which it would commence its conducted tours off Marine Drive, the sources said. Such tours by its sister vessel in the AlappuzhaPathiramanal corridor are high in demand just like SWTD’s ‘See Ashtamudi’ tour in a doubledecked boat.
The agency is also readying to operate Indra, India’s largest solarelectric ferry, in the Kochi backwaters from April, it is learnt. The AC doubledecker catamaran has 100 seats, while the upper deck provides a semiopen space for travellers. It would operate morning and postnoon tours.
The SWTD operates a fleet of five catamaran, twinengine fibre boats on the ErnakulamFort Kochi route and four monohull steel boats on the ErnakulamVypeen route. The sixth catamaran ferry would join the fleet in April and the seventh in December, sources said.