Mumbai Water Taxi Service

January 3, 2022

The much-awaited Water Taxi Services is likely to start in Mumbai, from January 2022.

New Routes of Mumbai water transport project

  • This service is likely to provide connectivity between Domestic Cruise Terminal at Ferry Wharf and terminals at Belapur & Nerul.
  • Government has allotted following routes to several operators:
  1. International Cruise Terminal to Elephanta
  2. Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) to Karanjade, Rewas, Dharamtar.
  3. DCT to Belapur, Vashi, Nerul, Airoli, Khanderi Islands & JNPT
  4. DCT to JNPT and Navi Mumbai, will be the most significant route.

Inauguration of the services

Water Taxi Service is expected to be inaugurated in first week of January 2022, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Presently, there are three operators ready. Fourth operator will join after their catamaran is certified fit.

Background

Work on the Water Taxi Services project was accelerated after Nitin Gadkari assumed charges as Shipping Minister.

Who started this project?

The Water Taxi Service project is a joint initiative of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), Maharashtra Maritime Board and City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

Fare for the service

Fares from DTC to Navi Mumbai will be around Rs 1200 to 1500 per passenger, while fares from DTC to JNPT will be around Rs 750. The fares are high at present. Rates will be decreased once operators get a large catamaran.

Travel time to reach Navi Mumbai

Water Taxi will take 30-minute to ferry from DCT to Navi Mumbai while 15-20 minutes to ferry from DCT to JNPT. These services can operate from 300 to 330 days in a year. However, it will not operate in extremely heavy rains.

Sea transport from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai

The Gateway of India was earlier connected to Navi Mumbai and Girgaum was connected to Juhu by catamaran. But the services were shut down in 1994. Currently, there are speedboats, catamarans, and launches, running on the Mumbai-Mandwa route. Launches also connect Mumbai with Uran, Rewas, Mora, Mandwa and Elephanta Caves.

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