There is some good news for citizens taking ferry boats to Mandwa, Elephanta and Alibaug from the Gateway of India. Rides to these places will be reduced to one-third the time it otherwise takes. However, this good news comes at a price, for the reduction in time will weigh four times as much on travellers' pockets.
The Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) on Saturday gave the license to the first such boat that will ferry passengers to these places. Owned by private operators, the concept behind this move is to provide passengers services at par with international cities.
Rides to Elephanta and Mandwa that take an hour each will now be completed in 20 minutes.
R Parmar, chairman of MPT said that compared to global cities, high speed boats don't exist for passengers in Mumbai. He said: "The idea of such a service was being toed for a few years, but due to investment problems, it didn't work out. All the ferry boat owners decided to come up with one such boat to start on a pilot basis."
There are 25 ferry boats at present. The chairman explained the situation, saying: "Licenses of three boats were surrendered and one speed boat was given. The present one is 21-seaters. Two more will come up in a phased manner, which will be of 45 and 60 seats."
Parmar added that if the services get a good response, all of them may be converted to speed boats.
Zameer Ibrahim, member, Gateway Elephanta Jal Vahatuk Sanstha Maryadit said that the express service to Alibaug and Elephanta will be called Apollo 1.
He added: "The boat costs around Rs1 crore and since the fuel intake is high, prices of the tickets are almost four times. The service is like to run from four to five days."
Speed boat ticket prices
Rs 600 for Elephanta (two way)
Rs 500 for Mandwa (one way)
Ferry ticket prices
Rs 150 for Elephanta (two way)
Rs 70 for Mandwa (one way)
