by Chanpreet Khurana I Money Control I Published on: Jan 01, 2025

Navi Mumbai architect Charles Correa thought a lot about ways to build efficient cities around the three key ingredients of jobs-housing-transportation, with adequate attention to social, cultural and educational institutions. The Charles Correa Foundation’s Nagari Film Festival 2024 was all about urban mobility.

Few people realize that Goa, too, is a land of five rivers: the Mandovi, Zuari, Sal, Terekhol and Chapora. This, in addition to Goa’s access to the sea routes via Mormugao and Panjim Minor ports, makes Goa one of the premier destinations for developing water-transport infrastructure in India.

Currently, ferries and bridges like the Atal Setu over the Mandovi take people across, on their way to school, work and other day-to-day activities. But there are chokepoints and limitations. For one, the bridges typically only connect the two banks where the river is the narrowest, rather than taking people as close as possible to their final destination over water. Two, as the population (domestic and tourist) grows, the pressures on infrastructure rise too.

An obvious fix, says Harvard University Graduate School of Design-trained architect Nondita Correa Mehrotra, is running water buses that can hit the sweet spot between affordability, accessibility, efficiency and lower climate impact.

Read the full article here Water buses in Goa vs air taxis & self-driving cars: Charles Correa Foundation wants you to think about the future of public transport in India