MMDA adds 2 new boats to ferry fleet

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Friday added two new ferry boats to its fleet in a bid to meet—and encourage—increasing demand for transportation on the Pasig River.

The 156-seater, air-conditioned ferry boats—on loan from Dito Telecommunity under a cooperation agreement with the agency—will be deployed during the rush hours starting next week, said MMDA Deputy Chair Frisco San Juan.

Dito, owned by Davao businessman Dennis Uy, is a joint venture firm between Uy’s Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics with Beijing’s China Telecommunications Corp. which entered the telecommunications market last year to break the Smart-Globe duopoly.

The new boats bring to nine the MMDA’s fleet of ferry vessels that serve 11 stations from Makati to Manila. The seven older, smaller-capacity boats will regularly run as scheduled while the new boats will only be deployed during rush hours or if there is a peak in ridership in one of the stations.

Under the cooperation agreement signed on Friday, the two new vessels would be maintained and operated by a crew provided by Dito.