Blue Modal Shift – Urban and Regional Waterborne Transport

Magazine article, 2015

Many of the systemic problems of land-based transport systems in densely populated areas can potentially be alleviated by increasing the proportion of waterborne transport. Negative external effects from land-based modes of transport, e.g. road and rail, will often not affect the costs of this type of transport. This makes the use of urban and regional waterborne transport economically unviable. Waterborne transport is energy ef cient, requires relatively inexpensive infrastructure and has no apparent capacity limitations. Many older city centres are located adjacent to a body of water or along the coast. This indicates that a successful effort to shift the mode of transport from land to water could be relevant for some of the larger cities in Sweden.