Inland Waterways as Public Transportation

Abstract

India has an abundance of navigable waterways, including river systems, canals, backwaters, creeks, and tidal inlets. These waterways span approximately 14,500 km, of which 5600 km can be traversed by motorised vessels. Only a few States and specific locations have navigable waterways. A network of rivers, canals, backwaters, and streams known as inland waterways can be utilised for transportation in addition to or instead of highways and railroads. Rivers have been useful conduits for moving people and things over great distances throughout history. Many nations still rely mostly on inland water transportation since it is less expensive, more dependable, and environmentally friendly than shipping cargo by rail or road. The Inland Water Transport (IWT) is functionally important in regions covered by the Brahmaputra and the Ganges in the North-East and Eastern parts of the country, Kerala, Goa and in the deltas of the rivers of Krishna and Godavari. Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, is located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Three rivers converge at the city's location: the Yamuna, the Ganges, and the fabled Sarasvati. The geography and culture of the city are fundamentally shaped by these rivers. The rivers that flow through Prayagraj are examples of interior waterways that have historically been important for trade and transportation. However, with the Indian government pushing to promote waterways as an efficient source of transportation, interest in their use for modern inland canal transportation has increased. Additionally, passenger ferries have a great deal of promise to advance resilient and sustainable transportation. As a result, it's important to consider passenger ferry services from the perspective of operations and policy, as this will assist define and preserve the current and planned water transport routes in addition to other forms of transportation. A significant inland canal in India, National canal-1 (NW-1) spans the Ganges River from Haldia in West Bengal to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. There are continuing development initiatives to improve the Ganges' navigability for both passenger and freight transportation. The purpose of this thesis is to better understand how users and operators perceive the current quality of ferry service operations and to provide strategies for improving water transport in cities to increase the viability of both proposed new routes and current routes in response to future demand.