The development of sustainable transportation means and systems is one of the European policies. Different criteria are taken into consideration to find an optimum solution when urban transport is investigated - in both traditional and innovative technical solutions. In the paper an alternative proposal to inland systems is proposed and the concept of design solutions is presented as well. The proposal is addressed partly to the local waterways in Szczecin and Western Pomerania region and is based on a sustainable passenger traffic analysis. It may also be interesting for application in the conditions of other cities and regions - Wroclaw, Dresden and Praha.