Ranking of potential multi-modal water hubs to facilitate Seabubbles
Use of the Best-Worst method to evaluate the decision criteria for selecting a potential best-fit multimodal water hub for Seabubbles, applied for a case study in the Drechtsteden region, The Netherlands
A. Ouchan (TU Delft - Civil Engineering & Geosciences)
J.A. Annema – Mentor (TU Delft - Transport and Logistics)
G.P. van Wee – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Transport and Logistics)
N. van Oort – Graduation committee member (Transport and Planning)
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Abstract
Cities and regions with access to water infrastructure are actively rethinking the possibilities of expanding the public inland waterway transport, especially since road congestion and pollution are still a reoccurring issue. Their aim is to make water transport more attractive for travelers by allowing the introduction of sustainable water modes to increase the use of the already existing water infrastructure instead of extending the road networks. In parallel with the common used large scheduled passenger ships, supporting on-demand water transport could be offered on a smaller scale in order to cope with fluctuating off-peak demand or to serve a specific target group, such as tourists. One way to set this up is by using on-demand water-taxis, such as Seabubbles. Seabubbles are small zero-emission (hydrogen) hydrofoil ships that can transport four to fourteen passengers depending on the type. The deployment of Seabubbles in water transport can be compared to Uber-taxis that are used in road transport. Since waterborne transport does not usually provide door-to-door transportation, the main challenges of introducing on-demand Seabubbles lie in their safe and practical integration into the surrounding urban area and transport network. The water hubs where the Seabubbles dock should seamlessly connect the waterfront with the landfront and therefore play an important role in connecting the water transportation system with the road transportation system.