Hatirjheel water-taxi service improvements considering riders pre-and-post-trip mode choice characteristics

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most congested megacities in the world today. It's predominantly road-based transportation systems have been failing to meet the dwellers mobility needs. Furthermore, the road congestion results in a significant GDP loss every year. The government has been undertaken (and continuing to undertake) numerous transportation systems and services improvement projects such as Metro Rail, BRT, flyovers and U-loop projects along major corridors. Furthermore, being a sustainable (environmentally friendly) mode, a Water-Taxi (WT) service was introduced in the Hatirjheel lake in December 2016 that currently serves major residential, educational, and business/commercial destinations including Rampura/Badda, Badda-Gulshan-1 link road, and Tejgoan/Kawran-Bazar areas through multiple routes. Previous studies reported that the demand for HatirJheel WT service outperforms its service capacity despite noted service weaknesses. This study assesses the WT service characteristics [i.e., WT station characteristics including their surrounding areas and adjacent bus stops, frequency/headway, travel (waiting and running) time, vessel capacity and ridership level as well as access (pre-trip) and egress (post-trip) modes of the riders]. Field data were collected and questionnaire-based surveys were conducted in late 2019 and early 2020 (just before the COVID-19 lockdown). The survey data reveals that a large percentage of WT riders are exchange (transfer) passengers from buses and para-transits. It is also found that WT operates on irregular headways causing long waiting times for riders. The physical separation between bus stops and WT stations, accessing issues (i.e., walking time and safe crossing of roads) with the WT stations as well as long waiting time at stations significantly deteriorate the WT service performance. Taking into consideration of the existing issues and challenges that may jeopardize the implementation of the proposed improvements, a SWOT analysis is also performed. This study recommends that schedule based reliable WT service with a desirable frequency and posted time-table should be introduced to minimize the waiting times at stations. The future study should focus on developing a model for analyzing the effectiveness of WT and bus system integration (i.e., physical and service - schedule and fare - integration between buses and WTs). If desired, WT and bus system integration would improve the service performance of both modes while attracting additional riders and ultimately supporting sustainable development (i.e., alleviating congestion on local roadways and improving air quality etc.). © 2023 Author(s).