Now, sail from Navi Mumbai to Mandwa on weekends

Mumbai: The recently launched water taxi service will extend its passenger operations to cover the route between Belapur and Mandwa starting this weekend. “It will be a weekend-only service that we will be operating between these jetties, one in each direction,” Nayantara Shipping director, Captain Rohit Sinha said.

These services have been scheduled to cater to the weekend rush to Alibaug and back. At Belapur, the water taxi has been scheduled to depart at 8am to reach Mandwa in about 90 minutes. To return from the weekend getaway, the catamaran will take off at 6pm and reach Belapur Jetty at 7.45pm (105 minutes) as it will come via the Domestic Cruise Terminal.

“For about a week, water taxi services will ply from the Domestic Cruise Terminal and not from Gateway of India due to ongoing Navy Week celebrations planned at the iconic tourist destination,” added Mr Sinha.

For the upper deck or business class of water taxi Nayan XI, the fare between Navi Mumbai and Mandwa will be Rs400, while Rs 300 will be charged for the executive class or lower deck. The passenger vessel has 60 seats on the upper deck and 140 on the lower deck.

A week ago, the operator slashed the fares of its services between Gateway of India and Mandwa to attract more passengers and popularise the service. The fares were reduced by Rs150 and Rs100 for the lower and upper decks, respectively.

On November 1, Nayan XI was introduced for passenger services on Mumbai's eastern coast. Approval to run the water taxi service between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai is pending.