Unprecedented urbanization and increased private vehicle ownership in India have led to the issues of traffic congestion and pollution. To meet the global emission targets set for the transportation sector towards sustainability, developing nations like India are in desperate need of a preferred sustainable public mode of transport. The paper discusses potential influencing factors considered by the users in their affiliation towards sustainable Inland Water Transport (IWT) systems within an urban context. An extensive literature review was carried out to identify the probable leveraging attributes of the public. A total of 20 qualitative and quantitative metrics from eclectic published resources were selected for the user perspective survey. Both stated and revealed preference queries were included in the questionnaire. The urban city of Kochi in the state of Kerala was selected for the study. The hypothetical situations required were analyzed using stated preference questions. The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was carried out to reckon the pairwise weights of different characteristics on the final decision. Safety and comfort were the aspects given the highest priority contrary to the intuitive belief of the economy being the dominating one. This study is unique in its exploration of the under-researched area of IWT in India and the application of MCDM technique to this issue. The methodology and criteria employed in the study can be replicated in any other cities of similar terrain and demographics, albeit the conclusions arrived at may not be considered universal.