Water taxi service to halt at Gateway of India too after monsoon

Following lukewarm response from passengers on the sea route due to issues like lack of feeder services from DCT, the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) had requested Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to add a halt at the Gateway to attract a higher footfall, an official from DCT said.

The MbPT recently gave permission to the MMB and private operators to run services between Gateway of India and Belapur jetty.

Meanwhile, with monsoon just a few days away, the water taxi service between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai was stopped on Wednesday. Once the services resume after monsoon, around September, passengers would be able to board and alight from water taxi at the Gateway of India, officials said.

The water taxi service between Belapur and Elephanta caves will continue during the monsoon except for days marked by inclement weather, officials added.

On February 17, the water taxi services between DCT and Belapur, and Belapur and Elephanta Caves, were inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

A total of four operators are running services on the routes, with speed boats for water taxi and catamarans for mass transportation being employed.

The service was started with a total of eight boats, including seven speedboats with a capacity of 10 to 30 passengers each and a catamaran with a capacity of 56 passengers.

The water taxi services were aimed at cutting the commute time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. However, the DCT-Belapur service got a poor response from the passengers, owing to several reasons including high fare.

Despite the state government waiving off taxes on the fare, private operators claimed that they did not get the response that they expected.

In fact, the catamaran service between DCT and Belapur, which can accommodate 50 people at a time, did not get any response and could not complete a single ferry, said an operator.

However, Belapur-Elephanta service received a good response and saw completion of 320 trips on the route and 3,299 passengers using the facility.

“We are hoping increase in ridership on Mumbai and Navi Mumbai (route) after monsoon since there will also be a halt at the Gateway of India along with DCT for the convenience of passengers,” an operator said.