Highlights • A behavioral approach is demonstrated to assess the viability of IWT in emerging countries. • Short term and long term improvement scenarios are suggested for IWT. • Intervention areas of IWT are identified giving due consideration to factor structure and management scheme. • Best operational scenarios with and without fare increment are recommended for IWT.

Abstract The mounting transportation challenges and the ever-increasing usage of private vehicles in emerging countries necessitate an investigation into alternative sustainable modes of transportation. A three-stage behavioral based methodology is proposed for evaluating the viability of Inland Waterway Transportation (IWT) as a sustainable solution to the passenger transportation challenges faced by emerging nations. The approach includes identification of intervention areas, development of econometric models and recommendation of the best operational scenarios. The intervention areas are identified based on Importance Satisfaction Analysis and econometric models are developed to quantify benefit. The study identified nine key intervention areas in terms of qualitative and quantitative attributes, which served as the starting point for subsequent analysis and evaluation. The result showed substantially higher WTP values for the qualitative attributes (safety, security, and crowding level) of IWT, which indicates the pressing need for improvements in these attributes. The study clearly shows the possibility of enhancing the service quality of IWT without putting additional financial burden on the Government. The recommended scenario offers substantial benefits to travelers as compared to the base scenario. The study offers both short-term and long-term strategies to enhance IWT services, providing improvements without fare increments in the short term. Upon adopting the short-term scenario and gaining public acceptance, the recommended long-term scenario, which includes fare increments, can be gradually implemented. Although the findings are specific to the case studied, the methodology and experience can be applied to enhance IWT services wherever applicable.